


Because Roses Are Not Always Red

by DarkLux



Category: Naruto
Genre: Ableism, Abuse, Disability, Gen, Implied Childhood Sexual Abuse, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Kakashi Gaiden, Muteness, Sexual Abuse, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-11-24
Updated: 2017-10-30
Packaged: 2017-11-19 09:27:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 32
Words: 44,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/571764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkLux/pseuds/DarkLux
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU. A series of one-shots that picture Hatake Kakashi as a mute.<br/>Pairs still unchosen. Character names will be added as the one-shots progress.</p><p>Most tags apply only to chapters 25-27.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. When the Eagle Lands

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know if this is good or bad or what, but here you go. I hope you will like it.

 

 

**When the Eagle Lands**

_five years old_

When Kakashi was still very young, Minato would often tease the little boy. The silver-haired child was serious about training, but often showed a silent fascination with many other things the blond did, such as reading or simply going to the movies. But when the eighteen-year-old asked him a question that required more than a shake or nod of the head, Kakashi would simply stare at him before lowering his eyes to the ground, and the conversation would immediately stop.

‘He’s just a mute.’ Minato would say to his fellow jounin. It was meant to be a joke, a simple excuse to protect his little student from the harsh comments that seemed to follow the genin around.

He often caught Jirayia-sensei’s odd looks after this particular comment, but he never did ask why, he simply shrugged it off as one of the many things the older man found weird about him.

That was, of course, before the one time he made the comment in front of Kakashi.

A chuunin had been throwing the boy dirty glances, having asked a question that had gone unanswered by the child, and Minato was quick to use his trump card “Oh, stop it, Hiro, he can’t answer any question like that. He’s a mute, you know?” and then a very idiotic, brash comment flowed from his lips. “You just have to pretend he’s stupid, see. Don’t ask him any hard questions.”

The newly-turned-adult thought Kakashi would frown or pout and for the first time yell at him for insulting him, perhaps even kick him. But the only sound that followed was the crash of metal to concrete. The blond spun around, only to see his genin had dropped the pot they were supposed to retrieve for the D-ranked mission.

He was about to chastise the boy when he noticed those suddenly big, dark grey eyes filling with tears. The boy’s mouth, he could see even behind the mask his student wore, was quivering just as violently as his tiny clenching-and-unclenching fists.

And then the kid broke and the diminutive hands flew to cover the falling tears that were now cascading down his cheeks. The small body shook with silent sobs and Minato could only say those were the most awkward, dumbest moments of his entire life.

Hiro having disappeared, the jounin kneeled down in front of his student, completely mesmerized by the silently weeping five-year-old. He had no idea people could actually _do_ that!

“Hey, it’s okay, Kakashi-kun,” He said, picking up the empty pot to check over it. “See, it’s not even the least bit damaged, it’s not like you failed the mission.”

When the silent crying didn’t stop, the blond frowned slightly, worried. He reached out, pulling the dark cloth away from Kakashi’s face to attempt to clean the tears, and froze.

The small child had his mouth open, but only silent screams were being liberated from the boy’s throat.

Kakashi was a mute.

Kakashi was a _mute_.

Kakashi _was_ a mute.

_‘Shit.’_ Minato lost no time in collecting his hurt, distressed student into his arms, rocking him gently and caressing the oddly colored hair the child possessed. “I’m _so_ sorry, Kakashi, I didn’t know. I had _no_ idea.” But he knew he had messed up, and he felt his heart fall to the pit of his stomach at the knowledge he had just not only doubted but also deeply offended the small figure he now held in his arms. He was an _ass_. “I’m such an idiot! Please forgive me Kakashi, I didn’t mean it. You’re not stupid. You’re the smartest person I know.”

He tried a lot more apologies and reassurances, but the trembling did not subside, and Minato soon found himself running to the only place he could think off. Sensei’s house. Because only the two of them were the people Kakashi had trusted, which only made him feel worse.

The blond’s fist rapped at the wooden door as he yelled desperately for the older man to come out. To come and help because he was the worst person in the face of the Earth and not only him but Kakashi needed him.

The toad expert opened his door with a groggy look, sighing “This better be important, you bra—” but the sight in front of him made him stop mid-sentence.

He practically hauled the pair inside, quickly plucking the child out of Minato’s arms and pressing him against his own chest, big arms almost completely hiding him from the blond’s view.

“What happened?” The older male whispered harshly before switching to a much calmer, gentler tone to shush the silver haired child.

Minato explained everything between pants and cries of despair and begs of forgiveness until his sensei stopped him by placing a large hand on his chest, then moving it to his shoulder and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

The oldest male then gave a pointed look towards the tiny five-year-old, and the blond couldn’t resist looking over at the effects of his faults. Kakashi, face flushed, had his head fully leaned on Jirayia’s broad chest, hands clutching the dark-blue robes, but was looking right at Minato. Deep breaths barely racked the boy’s body now.

“You’re still young yourself, Minato-kun. But you know better now.”

The blond nodded and looked at the little mute once more. “I-I-I’m r-really sorry, little man. I didn’t mean it at all. I… I didn’t know, and I know I was still an a—a  jerk.” He hesitated, looking at his bare feet for a second before raising his gaze again “Y-you can choose my punishment, yeah? Will you forgive me?”

Kakashi’s response was to reach out to him with one arm, an opportunity Minato didn’t pass up on and was quick to grab the boy from his sides and lift him from his sensei’s arms, holding the child to his own chest fiercely.

The blond waited a few seconds, then held the boy at arm length, much to the confusion of the poor kid, who let out a silent gasp at the brusque movement. Minato regarded the boy sternly. “If you’re ever in trouble, throw a kunai with a red ribbon tied to it.” He allowed the words to sink in, then smiled gently and pressed the boy to his chest again. “I’ll be right there, okay?”

After a few minutes of blissful silence, the Sannin in the room couldn’t take any more of the cheesiness and proceeded to shove the pair out of his home. As he did so, Minato finally noticed when the man was actually _wearing,_ and made a disgusted face at his sensei before running, Kakashi still in his arms, to the boy’s favorite restaurant.

That was the first and last time Kakashi cried over the topic.


	2. How I See You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Minato wants to learn sign language from his young student.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's second of the series.
> 
> ...Don't get used to the fast updates, I don't know how this happened.
> 
> This one is only Kakashi and Minato.

 

 

**How I See You**

_Six years old_

It was during the rest period between the first and second phase of his chuunin exam when Kakashi first had Minato come to him, attempting to practice his sign-language. _Why_ the man had wanted to practice such a thing was beyond him, since he could hear perfectly well and he knew the blond was aware of that.

Still, Kakashi corrected the man’s hands for two hours straight before asking him what it was he wanted to accomplish.

Minato’s response was sheepish but simple. It would make it much easier for Kakashi to talk to him if he actually learned this and didn’t have to rely on a piece of paper to understand his student’s thoughts and feelings.

The boy, of course, thought that was completely moronic, but shrugged and motioned for his teacher to continue.

After the sixtieth time the blond confused the signs he was teaching him, thus insisting his ‘mother was a hippo’ rather than saying  his ‘mother’s meals were the best’, Kakashi settled for something simpler. He held his hands in the universal ‘stop’ sign, saving Minato from yet more ridicule, and took the pen and the piece of paper he had been using when the man fundamentally failed to comprehend him.

‘This’ll be your personal sign’ He wrote, then looked up at the cerulean eyes to see if the apparently thick prodigy was following.

“What’s a personal sign?” The blond asked, bewildered but seemingly interested as he leaned forward in his seat.

The six-year-old fought the urge to roll his eyes. ‘It’s a sort of nickname I give you. It’s easier than to spell a name out, and more personal as well.’

The blond’s eyes widened for a second, but immediately smiled and nodded, telling him to go on and show him.

Kakashi then pointed at the man. _‘It’s you I’m talking about, I’m going to start now.’_ then used his right hand to draw a simple M near his chest, and lifted his hand over his head. He made a flat-O shape with his fingers and thumb, fingertips pointing down; then drew a clockwise circle in the air, and finally opened his fingers, his palm facing the floor. The soon-to-be chuunin lowered his hand to the table, finished. He moved uncomfortably in his seat when his teacher simply stared at him.

The older male looked utterly fascinated, however. “What does it mean?”

Kakashi once again grabbed the pen and wrote ‘That’s an M for Minato, and then the sign for SUN.’ He wrote it like that, all in capital letters just like he did every time he was referring to a specific object.

“Oh.” Minato muttered, then his face broke into a grin. “Well, thanks!”

The boy nodded and began collecting all of his things so they could finish the mortifying lesson once and for all—not that he thought his teacher would give in that easily, no, the man would surely ask to resume his lessons another day, because he was stubborn like that—only to be stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

“Can I give you one, too?”

Kakashi regarded the man with an expression of mild worry, fearing the horror that could be produced of such a liberty when the blond obviously didn’t know the first thing about the language. The hopeful gaze was too much, however, so the child nodded.

Dark-grey eyes observed as Minato made a drew a K in the air—completely backwards, but that was beside the point—then extended both of his hands in front of him, right on top of the left, completely flat and palms down; this was followed by the fingertips of the man’s right hand sliding from the fingertips to the wrist of his left hand.

The blond halted when he noticed the boy’s widened eyes. “I… I was trying to sign ‘gentle’, was I wrong?” But then Kakashi’s eyes widened even more as he shook his head. “Then…” Minato stopped, frowning in confusion. “Well, little man, I happen to think you’re pretty gentle.”

And so the boy nodded, opened his book again and decided he could endure a little more of the torture that was teaching his sensei. If the eighteen-year-old was patient enough to teach him and still have a positive view of his person, then the least he could do was try to do the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you go.
> 
> The first three one-shots will be in chronological order, then they will start to jump all over the place. (You'll know which ones goes before or later with Kakashi's age tag at the beginning of the chapter.
> 
> For this, I used the American Sign Language. It took me along whle bcause there are like five ways to sign these words... I think I settled for the baby one, and I don't know if they are correct. If they're not, please tell me? Pretty please?


	3. I'm Not Like Them

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kakashi and Minato meet Obito and Rin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Third in the series. 
> 
> You people are getting too lucky with updates for this ._.

 

 

**I’m Not Like Them**

_ Eight years old _

He did his best not to frown when the blond told him they would ‘finally’ meet their ‘precious’ teammates, which would eventually lead to a ‘cute, ever-lasting and perfect’ friendship. Firstly because every time he frowned the man would insist he was pouting—which he was most definitely _not_ —, and secondly because Minato was downright jumping for joy about the whole situation.

Kakashi, on his part, didn’t get it. He was a chuunin and _did not_ need more teammates. He and Minato could and had taken on every other mission on their own without problems, and two genin would only slacken and thwart their team dynamics.

Keeping these thoughts to himself, the short, silver-haired shinobi allowed himself to be pulled by Minato to the classroom where several boys and girls around Kakashi’s age, some a little older, were waiting. The blond grinned at everyone, making no attempt to correct his chuunin’s sour look.

“Team 12, meet me in the big tree out of here!” And then the jounin ignored Kakashi’s flails as he picked the boy up and disappeared from the classroom in a whirl of leaves. When they got to where they were supposed to wait, cheerful cobalt blue eyes met annoyed onyx ones. “What?”

That only served to increase the intensity of the boy’s glare. Kakashi then plopped down on the grass, followed closely by a baffled Minato, who kept looking over at him waiting for an explanation until the reminder members of their new team arrived and both excitedly and nervously settled themselves across from the other two.

The four stared at each other for a minute until the little girl—and Minato would forever love her for it— smiled kindly at the oldest male.

“Are you doing okay, sensei?”

The blond returned the smile while Kakashi rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I’m doing pretty good, actually.” Then the finally remembered what it was he was supposed to do, and cleared his throat, confidence regained. “My name is Namikaze Minato, I’m twenty-two years old, I enjoy reading and the thing I want to do in the future is become Hokage so that I can watch over all of the people in the village.” He took a fleeting look at Kakashi, but seeing the boy made no effort to try and introduce himself, the blond turned to the girl. “Your turn.”

She brightened immediately, her hand moving to take her brown hair out of her eyes. “I’m Nohara Rin, I turned nine a week ago…uhm…” she stopped, looking indecisive about her next words “I really like flowers a lot! Especially during the spring because there are so many different colors, and my dream is to become a medic and keep the people I like safe.”

Minato smiled gently at her. It was a very nice dream to have, but with war approaching he could only hope the circumstances wouldn’t dampen her spirits. He motioned to the black-haired boy with his chin. “You.”

To the blond’s surprise, the kid actually stood up, a grin plastered on his face. And began talking at such a volume he was sure he had seen both other children cringe. “I’m Uchiha Obito, ten years old, do remember that! I like ramen and blue and I dislike jerks and self-centered people!” Looking pleased with himself, the loudmouth sat back down on the grass, and looked at the reminding member of the team.

Rin and Minato followed his example, but Kakashi did not yield from his stare-contest with a blade of grass between his feet. The blond nudged him and the youngest member of the team sighed soundlessly. He reached into his kunai holster and pulled out a small notebook. Without opening it, he showed the cover to the other youngsters.

_‘KAKASHI’_ Was written in black, bold letters over the thin white cardboard.

They both stared, Rin with a smile and the Uchiha with a frown.

“What, can’t you just say it?” The boy asked, earning a glare from the younger boy who then looked it their teacher almost as if saying ‘I told you so’.

Minato was quick to intervene before the glare match that had begun became a quarrel. “Ah, no, Obito-kun. See, Kakashi here is mute. Don’t worry, though, we’ll teach you how we can communicate even in missions.”

It was easy to notice the blush of embarrassment even with those ridiculous orange goggles covering the male genin’s eyes. “Oh.” He tried to meet the youngest’s eyes, but they were clearly evading him. “Sorry.”

The blond cleared his throat “Well, just to make his quicker, Kakashi is eight, a chuunin, and he… well … He likes dogs, I guess. He’s allergic to cats so I assume he doesn’t like them. And he told me once that his dream for the future was for me to stop babying him.” He grinned, hopping to have lightened the mood (even if what he said _was_ the truth). For the most part he seemed to have succeeded, but Kakashi’s small fists tightened up as the boy glared at him.

Choosing to ignore this particular side-effect, Minato stood and dusted invisible dirt from his trousers. He informed the children they would be going to Ichiraku’s to have dinner. The effect was immediate: two thirds of his team jumped to their feet and almost began pulling him to the stand while the other third caught up with them unenthusiastically.

As they walked, Obito lagged to attempt and apologize once again, an action fondly observed by the team leader. The older boy was about to open his mouth when he noticed something particularly odd. “Why d’ ya have a red cloth in your weapons’ pouch?” The Uchiha reached over, but had his hand slapped away by Kakashi.

The grey-haired child glared at the taller ninja and walked over to where Rin and Minato had stopped to wait for them. He didn’t miss the “jerk” directed to him, but decided to just keep on walking.

Arriving at the stand, the jounin was quick to, quite unnecessarily, help all of his students to the high stools and allowed everyone to order before ordering a miso ramen for himself before falling on a pleasant, mostly one-sided conversation with the small chuunin sitting next to him.

But Kakashi lost the man’s attention soon, the jounin having been captured by Obito’s rant about something or the other which was quickly joined in by Rin. Having been his turn to peak in the conversation with Minato and not knowing what else to do, the Hatake pulled out the piece of fabric his new teammate had noticed earlier and waved it by his sensei’s face.

Minato interrupted himself mid-sentence to glare at him. It made Kakashi go stiff; the blond had never, _ever_ looked at him like that. The red cloth was practically yanked out of his hand, or at least it felt that way, and the eight-year-old didn’t know what to do with himself. “Don’t do that while I’m speaking, Kakashi.”

Then the blond turned away from him again in favor of facing his two new students, and the chuunin’s shoulders slumped. Not knowing if he felt angered or hurt, the boy turned his back to all three of his teammates, pushing his full bowl away and letting his hidden chin fall on the palm of his right hand.

After hearing Obito and Rin say their good-byes and leave, Kakashi went to do the same, only to be stopped by a large hand that held onto his shirt. The young chuunin looked up into his sensei’s troubled eyes.

“What is it with you today? I was trying to have a conversation, you know? That was very rude.”

Kakashi did shrink back a little at the scolding, but to his credit he returned the adult’s angered stare. ‘I’m sorry I’m not like them’ He signed, glad to have had the patience of teaching the man enough sign language to have this little argument.

“What do you mean, you’re not like them, Kakashi?!”

The boy yanked the fabric of his shirt of out his teacher’s grasp. ‘Could not even introduce myself. You wanted it to be quick. I’m sorry I’m slow to communicate.’ And he turned, not willing to continue. He began walking until he heard his teacher’s sigh behind him.

“Hey, I’m sorry, but it’s not like you _wanted_ to communicate in the first place.” There was a pause “At least take the bandana with you!”

Frowning, the boy turned so his teacher could see what he was signing. ‘Don’t want it anymore.’ He ran to his house as fast as he could, slammed the door behind him, and laid down on the couch, promptly falling asleep.

The next morning, Kakashi woke to find himself under the covers of his own bed, the red bandana resting on his bedside table.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we see Kakashi slip into his bratty young self =D
> 
> ...But still, like we can also see, Minato loves him anyway.


	4. Trust Me Like I Trust You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, this was actually a request for a KakaNaru. I ended up making it a friendship, so.

**Trust Me Like I Trust You**

_ Twenty-nine years old _

For the twentieth time that evening, Hatake Kakashi told himself he was not being a moron.

He walked down the streets of Konoha in his usual jounin attire, minus the flak jacket and gloves, trying not to hurry back to his home and cross this idea as one of the worst he had had in his life. The remainder of Naruto’s sad expression when three different people told him they already had someone to go to the festival with was the sheer force that kept his legs moving.

Before he even noticed he had arrived to his destination his hand was already ramming on his student’s door so hard someone who didn’t know him could easily confuse his muteness with deafness. Naruto’s alarmed face received him moments later.

“ _What_ are you doing that _for_ , Kakashi-sensei?!” The cerulean orbs were wide and one of the boy’s eyes was twitching.

The man smiled, seemingly unfazed by the terror he had just caused, and poked the village’s forehead protector Naruto was wearing. At the questioning glance, he motioned the blond teen forward. The boy obeyed with an uncharacteristic lack of enthusiasm, closing the door behind him.

Kakashi then grabbed the blond by the wrist and began pulling him as he resumed his walk. Naruto’s protests immediately attacked his ears until he stopped completely and turned to the growingly angry teen.

“Where are you taking me?”

The man pointed in the general direction the festival was being held, and he watched as Naruto turned his head until he saw the colorful lights and ornaments in the distance and put two and two together. The frown was immediate and hurtful, since the teen’s face obviously wasn’t designed to show such an expression.

“There?”

Kakashi showed the boy his left palm, where a ‘YES’ had been tattooed nine years earlier.

“Why? No one wanted to go with me.”

The man sighed soundlessly and pressed a hand to his chest. When the boy obviously didn’t understand him he pointed at the blond, then at himself, then back at the blond, and finally to the colorful lights in the distance.

“ _You_ wanna go with me, sensei?”

Nodding, the Copy Ninja once again grabbed the boy’s wrist to pull him, only to notice Naruto didn’t need to be pulled anymore, since he was matching his pace as a small smile tugged at the teen’s lips. In the very least, Kakashi was happy that his student was no longer giving Sasuke a run for his money on who could make the most heart-breaking expression of solitude.

And so Kakashi enjoyed the surprisingly silent walk towards Konoha’s main street.

The problem was that ten minutes after they arrived at the festival, where Naruto had insisted to buy them both a cup of ramen, Akamaru, the Inuzuka boy’s dog, had decided the blond teen was the best companion out of all the people around it. Which of course led to Kiba, dragging Shikamaru and Chouji behind him, trying to get the blond to bet who could eat the most out of them.

Kakashi observed the interaction with his hands tucked deep in his pockets, noting just how happier Naruto’s eyes looked when the other teens approached him.

Feeling out of place, the oldest male shifted his weight from one foot to the other for five minutes before slipping away, much preferring Naruto to enjoy the time with his friends than forcing the teen to stay with someone like him the whole night.

He walked through the crowd until he got to the emptiest spot in the festival, only another person in sight, and sat down on the familiar bench his old team used to use to watch the stars after a particularly tiring or stressful mission. He rubbed his visible eye and sighed, leaning back to rest his head on the cool stone that supported his back. _Maybe I can sleep here just for today…_

Another presence interrupted his train of thought by sitting himself on the spot next to him on the bench. Kakashi opened his eye to see who it was and was surprised to find the blond Uzumaki beside him. The jinchuuriki sighed. “Why’d you leave, sensei?”

The man took out his ever-confident, tiny notebook and pen out of his pants’ pocket and wrote ‘You looked like you were having fun with your friends’.

Thin eyebrows furrowed, Naruto’s expression morphing into one that didn’t seem to belong in the tanned face. “They didn’t invite me here, sensei, you did.” And then proceeded to completely violate the man’s personal space by resting his head on the older male’s lean shoulder.

Kakashi allowed the gesture, seemingly lost in the sea of black above them.

“Ne, Kakashi-sensei, have you ever wished you could speak?” The man looked to the blond sitting next to him. The teen’s cerulean orbs were watching him intently, a mixture of curiosity and sadness.

Dark-grey orbs turned from his student to the sky as he pondered about the question. When he was younger he would often wonder how it would be like to talk, how his own voice would sound, just how he would manage himself on the battlefield had he been born with perfectly functioning vocal cords. Would speaking make his throat tingle? But all those were ‘what-if’ situations, and that was not what Naruto was speaking about _… Except maybe for that one time…_

The adult raised his right hand and placed it in front of the young blond’s face. Naruto read the tattooed ‘NO’ with confusion. Kakashi felt the weight on his shoulder disappear when the boy lifted his head, only to be replaced by a hand as the blond kneeled on the bench instead of sitting on it, facing him.

“You don’t?” But Naruto’s eyes were not angry or aggressive, just unbelieving.

Of course Naruto would think it was a nightmare to be mute. The boy had his volume switch stuck on loud most of the time. But the silver-haired man smiled his odd eye-smile and once again lifted his right hand, showing the teen his palm. ‘NO’.

Naruto stared at Kakashi. He had _seen_ the man being alone most of the time, noticed how he often seemed to be on his own even when he was accompanied by other jounin. How the man had taken more time than usual to smile when Sai told him he could end up as a liability on their first mission together. Surely…

Well, then maybe his sensei _was_ a lonely person by nature. The sixteen-year-old truly preferred to think that, but he wasn’t as innocent and clueless like everyone seemed to believe. Not anymore.

Thin arms coiled around the man’s neck, and the silver-haired man tensed slightly when he felt his student’s head fall on his shoulder before relaxing, the breath warming his neck through his mask soothing him in a way he had never thought possible since Minato and Kushina’s deaths.

“You can tell me when something bothers you from now on, sensei. I’ll help.”

After a few seconds, Naruto smiled at his hair being ruffled and lifted his head from the adult’s shoulder. What he met was the man’s notebook, open and page filled with Kakashi’s surprisingly neat handwriting.

‘Same goes for you.’

Naruto grinned. The smile became mischievous almost immediately, and the teen took advantage of the man’s apparently peaceful state by quickly moving to yank down his teacher’s facemask, only to have his eyesight go black before he could see the least bit of skin. The blond’s left hand went up to his eyes to feel what had blocked his view, his right still holding the thin black cloth.

At the contact of his fingertips with the cool metal of his forehead protector, Naruto pouted. “…I hate you, sensei.”

Wheezing was the sole response, and the blond simply had to settle with a mental image of the silver-haired man laughing at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know Kakashi isn't one to laugh, but for the sake of the requester and that we just saw what Naruto thought was happening, I'll let it slide.


	5. I Have no Mouth and I Must Scream

 

  **I Have no Mouth and I Must Scream**

_ Fourteen years old_

 

He watched his teacher fall off of the giant toad summon and crash as dead weight on the ground. He also watched how that demon took his soul; tying those chains around the one person he knew deserved to be as free as the wind, both in life and death. No matter how much he tried to look away, no matter how hard Gai pulled on his arm, no matter how timely Jiraiya's hands were to cover his wide eyes from the harsh truth. He still saw.

Kakashi saw it all, and now his mind replays it every second because Obito's gift to him had to be as vexing and exasperating as the boy himself at times. And Kakashi regrets the moment he opened that damn left eye, because it is becoming impossible to live with the pain of a person he loved dying over and over again.

Even if it has just been five minutes.

Even if it has just been five minutes, the youngest genin, the youngest chuunin, the youngest jounin, the youngest ANBU—all of them one sole person who doesn't care about his achievements, not now, not anymore—wants to cry and scream and tell everyone who is shooting him pitying glances and encouraging words to  _shut the fuck up because they don't know what they are saying_ even though deep in his heart he knows that all of them have lost something and these villagers probably understand every single one of his feelings at the moment.

And wait for the best moment he does, once the villagers and his fellow shinobi remember that he cannot talk to them and they cannot understand him, and leave him alone to deal with his turmoil of emotions just like he has done his whole life because even though he is only fourteen he is a shinobi, and therefore he is a man and a man must deal with things on his own.

Everyone leaves, with the exception of course, of Gai, who he has to shove away even though  _he doesn't want to_  because he doesn't want to be alone, but he actually does, and he doesn't at the same time, and his self-proclaimed rival just makes the thought more difficult.

It isn't difficult to get away from a crowd that doesn't miss him because the last person who truly cared about him anymore is gone, has left him to fend for himself just like his father did all those years ago and only makes it so much worse.

Kakashi does not even realize where he is; just that there are a lot of trees surrounding him because he doesn't notice that he only ran to the center of the village where most of the population is crowded. He punches holes in the trees in front of him, but that isn't enough. He has to yell and scream and cry out but he can't.

Except he can, and he head-butts the enormous tree in front of him, and opens his mouth in a holler and a roar charged with so much emotion it begins to claw at his chest because it still wants to be released, so he bellows his whole despair into the night while the civilians surround the elite shinobi with awe and wonder because the only thing they see is a wounded soldier without a mask, and they cannot hear his cries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Canon-Jiraiya probably wouldn't have covered Kakashi's eyes, but I made that one of the changes that ocurred due to Kashi's muteness. Since Jiraiya was sort of like an uncle to the kid, he became a little more protective of him, but not enough for it to hinder Kakashi's career.
> 
> Thoughts? =O


	6. Hear You-Hear You Not

 

**Hear you; Hear you not**

_ Nineteen years old _

Kakashi’s voice is silent. But he _is_ hearing.

This is a fact he must often repeat to his teammates during missions—had to insist on it to those two knuckleheaded teens that were grouped with him during his chuunin examination, had to remind Obito of the fact every once in a while (though he admits now that that was the older boy being his usual loud self and probably never had the thought of looking down on him for his condition go through his mind)— and now he has shoved several different ANBU to the walls of the headquarters when they say things about him or his abilities that were obviously not meant to be heard by him.

The ones who know him—or know _of_ him, rather, the only person that actually knows him that is alive and not floating about in different villages is Gai—simply stay silent and pretend they don’t know their Squad Captain is playing stupid when he does not answer their questions.

Despite it all, missions are complicated. Kakashi can hear everyone. But no one can hear him. He listens patiently as the others discuss plans of action, then watches with grim satisfaction how the faces of his men, muscles of their arms and legs rippling, and shoulders stiffening; contort into anger when he erases their strategy plans from the board or the dirt at their feet to draw and explain the one which _will_ be the course of action.

The reactions disappear with time, when the other ANBU realize the Hatake brat’s plans work effectively almost a hundred percent of the time, and when they not it is due to their mission statement being incorrect since the very start. When they notice he appears every time they are having trouble. When they realize he can hear better than themselves, because the young man does not only hear the physical, but also the abstract and emotional. Even when he doesn’t admit it.

So when Hatake Kakashi’s team fails for the first time and the council is ready to blame it on him, the youngest ANBU, masked as a raven, can only mutter that they are idiots.

From the other side of the room, Wolf looks over and nods as if to recognize the accuracy of the younger’s statement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Raven must be obvious, but that would be Itachi.


	7. Beast of Burden

**Beast of Burden**   
_ Sixteen years old _

Team missions rarely came his way until he was in ANBU. After his first teammate got ill, the council began having his doubts, and no matter how much the Third and eventually the Fourth argued, the elders held themselves firm in their resolution to destitute Kakashi from all team-based missions.

They were scared, they said; feared for the lives of many young shinobi the White Fang’s son would put in danger.

Rin was a bit bitter after that. She refused to perform hospital duty and stubbornly stood her ground when she was chucked back into field duty. _‘I will not go on the mission without him’_. The council agreed when the girl growled at them like an animal, scaring even the teacher of the teacher of her teacher out of his wits.

The mission had been going great, just a wound to the leg and a few scratches on their arms. Rin could communicate with Kakashi on a certain level, understood all of his battle and cautionary signals, and the boy trusted her enough to watch his back while he kept an eye on the road ahead.

That is, until Rin decided to play a little and annoy her younger teammate a bit.

For more that he tried to catch up to her, Kakashi couldn’t quite bring his injured leg to move the way he wanted to, and Rin, in her haste to win their little race back to Konoha, did not see the red cloth attached to the kunai that flew past her until it was too late. Didn’t see it until Kakashi had to pull down his mask and whistle in a desperate attempt to warn her.

Mist ninja are difficult to deal with, and Hatake Kakashi learned this fact the hard way. Illusions were more than deceptive when one had a Sharingan that was in control of its owner rather than the other way around, and Rin’s stubbornness to fight when told otherwise did not help concentration.

Kakashi was completely lost in the sea of enemies attempting to take him out, even though he tried to feel around for Rin’s chakra signature when he heard the adult shinobi yell at each other instructions to capture the medic nin. His breath hitched, slashing with a kunai at the clones almost climbing over him. _There!_

The boy turned to the man standing behind him, hand chirping with the cackling of a thousand birds, and drove his hand through the enemy’s chest. It was only when he heard the growl beside him that the illusion disappeared, the tall, red-headed man replaced by Rin’s surprised face.

_“Ka…Ka…Shi…”_

His heart fell to the pit of his stomach, immediately feeling his blood freeze. Later, the young man would swear he heard Obito’s enraged cry at his unintended treason, his broken promise, but now, he could only feel an agonizing terror as his world faded to black.

He woke once briefly on the way to the village, cradled in the arms of Jiraiya who refused to tell him how he had found him. Sad eyes, the strong hand around his back and the soothing comments only served to increase his shame and regret.


	8. For the Sake of Truth

**008\. For the Sake of Truth**   
_ Nine years old _

Kakashi once read that losing one’s language meant losing one’s humanity. He took it to heart. When killing, always silent, he often reminded himself that he was just a tool.

Minato was both affronted and frightened when his little, disturbingly intelligent student signed to him that he was not a human, once the man had had the heart to scold the small boy for doing that. For doing that in front of poor, innocent Obito. For taking away a life even younger than his own.

The blond grabbed the nine-year-old’s arm in a rough, harsh, almost violent hold and demanded to know who had told him something so idiotic.

The boy flinched. He knew, objectively, that his teacher was one of the most dangerous people in the village, but the man spent so much time smiling and being annoyingly childish that this new, sudden side of the adult scared him like nothing ever had before.

Kakashi wasn’t the only one who cowered. Both Rin and Obito, as well as the chuunin that had been guarding Konoha’s gates were staring at the man. The blond seemed to notice, and he quickly dismissed the genin before jumping to the rooftops, Kakashi’s elbow still in his hand.

They arrived at the small chuunin’s house, Minato once again commanding the child to know where his idea had come from. Scowling, Kakashi struggled to free his restricted limb, and, after a few frantic seconds, the blond relented, loosening his grasp. Kakashi looked almost betrayed as he ran towards the kitchen, coming back holding a battered book.

The volume was held to the man’s nose, so he grabbed it and studied the cover. Philosophy. He opened it, allowing his student to turn the brittle pages until he found what he wanted. The boy pointed at a passage, and Minato read.

_Humanity bases on language. What makes us human is our ability to voice out ideas and externalize our feelings. To lose one’s language would signify the end of humanity for that individual..._

The man almost dropped the book, but he caught himself, tightened his fingers around the binding, and threw it out the window even at the child’s angered glance.

“You misunderstood, little man.” Blue orbs were much calmer, and his voice held a soothing quality to it. At Kakashi’s questioning gaze, he reached to ruffle the boy’s iron-colored hair. “The book says that our ability to _communicate_ is what makes us human. Speaking is just one way to communicate. I talk, but you write and sign.” Smiling, Minato lowered the black facemask that constantly obscured the tiny face. “We can both make facial expressions.”

Kakashi adopted a wide-eyed look of understanding before furrowing his eyebrows, confusion taking over his face, then extending towards his whole body.

Slowly, the boy reached out and grabbed the man’s hand holding it in place with his own left hand and tracing familiar patterns with the index finger of his right hand on the man’s palm.

_D-O-E-S_

_T-H-A-T_

_M-E-AN_

_P-A-K-K-U-N_

_I-S_

_A_

_H-U-M-A-N_

_T-O-O_

_?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there! So, hopefully, you like this sad but innocent part of the story!


	9. Asset

**009\. Asset**   
_ Eleven years old _

It was with a bittersweet sense of satisfaction that Kakashi knew he could not fail his mission. He wasn’t writing anything, and these blundering idiots clearly did not understand that he could not verbally answer any questions even if he wanted to.

He smiled into the bucket of water they had submerged his head into. Faintly, he wished he didn’t actually have to go through with this. That Minato-sensei would come and swoop him off this chair that loved digging spikes into his back, that Jiji would blast these people away from his cell, and hold him to that warm, bread chest. Hell, he would be fine with Kushina-san either slicing off their skin or even talking them to death.

He just didn’t want to be here. He wanted _out_.

Kakashi didn’t say that. Kakashi didn’t cry, or flinch, or even blink an eye as the punches and knives came near. Even if these evil ninja were just hurting him for fun, because he just couldn’t give them information, and they could not extract it either. He had read up on the Rain Village before, and he knew there weren’t any techniques like in the Yamanaka Clan, nor anything nearly as good to questioning.

So he endured everything in silence—“Fucking kid. Is he dead already or something?” —and forced himself not to show any emotion until later, much later; months, he thought, maybe years, the wall of the torture room caved-in to reveal the very three people he had whished would come rescue him.

And though he had closed his eyes through most of his own torture, and he barely had any energy left to even breathe, he kept them wide open to see those three righteous monsters destroy the haunters of his nightmares.

“Kakashi.” He was in Jiji’s arms, though he hadn’t noticed he had been moved at all “You left your teammates and Pakkun worried sick about you.” The rumble in that chest was bliss “But you’re safe now. You’ll see everyone soon, kid. Stay with me.”

The child stared, then searched almost desperately for his teacher. His movements were weak and sluggish, but the blond said nothing as the three fell into a steady, quick pace towards Konoha. Blue eyes found his, and the Hatake was surprised to see tears shining in them.

But he needed to hear it. He _needed_ it.

Minato just smiled at his gaze.

“You completed your mission, big man.”

With that, Kakashi allowed himself to slump in the arms of his father’s best friend, missing the heated discussion Kushina initiated.

“How could they do this to him just because he can’t—”

“He was an asset for this mission.” Jiraiya sounded angrier than his features let on. “I’ll make sure this never happens again. You’re right. It was absurd.”


	10. Loved

**Loved**   
Thirteen years old

Kushina really, really overdid it sometimes. Kakashi sat there, his uncovered eye dangerously close to twitching as the woman babbled his ear into oblivion. Minato had scurried off hours before, excusing himself with some paperwork, though his sly smirk told he boy there was something the blond was not telling him, and had left him with the important task of guarding his now very pregnant wife.

“—And then he went ‘oh yeah?’ and I told him something like ‘of course, ’tebanne!’ because really, how could he not see that I’m much more powerful than him or any of his little pussies he calls jounin associates, when I made it very clear the day I made him eat dirt when we were in the academy? Oh, Kaka-chan have I told you about my days at the academy? I mean, you didn’t have much time toenjoyitbecauseyou’re _blahblahblahblahblah_ ”

The boy forced himself to drown out the sound of his teacher’s wife parroting the exact same speech she had given no less than twenty-six minutes ago. He looked at her swollen stomach instead, wondering if the child was, too, growing tired of his mother’s pregnancy brain and motor-mouth.

He briefly considered him being just like his mother; a little person with blond or red hair, grabbing Kakashi’s hair like it was a monkey bar and telling every detail about a caterpillar or the like he didn’t give a fuck about. Kakashi shuddered.

After ten minutes of half-listening to Kushina’s yapping, he got his little notebook out of his pocket. It had recently been dyed green, instead of the white he usually had with him, and looking at it renewed his desire to punch Gai in the mouth. He wrote his message and showed it to the woman, who eyed it for a second before snatching the slip from him and throwing it to the low coffee table, her mouth never stopping.

Kakashi grimaced under his mask and tried again, and again, and again, but all his messages ended the same way.

Hours later, when the sun had fallen, Minato tiptoed back into his home, expecting to find Kushina asleep and Kakashi fighting against the heaviness of his eyelids, and stopped short in the middle of his living room.

The boy was half sprawled over Kushina’s lap, his position too awkward to have been natural, mask away from his face, mouth slightly open in his slumber. The redhead looked at him almost adoringly, a sad smile drawn on her lips, one hand combing through silver hair and the other supporting Kakashi’s hip so he wouldn’t fall on the floor. She didn’t look up when Minato got closer.

The man noticed the numerous pages scattered across the table, and didn’t need to read any to know what had happened.

“Just because he physically can’t tell you to stop talking doesn’t mean you should ignore his pleas.” He admonished gently. Taking the chance, he took a seat next to his wife, pulling the other half of Kakashi’s body into his own lap so the teen would not be in the danger of falling off the couch anymore.

She smiled. “Don’t be silly, Minato, I know that.” Her smile drooped a bit, the hand that had been supporting the boy resting on her belly. “But he’s a good listener. And something tells me Naruto will need a good listener. I’m just getting his ears ready.” Her grin turned devious at this point.

“Kakashi needs someone to listen, too. He can’t speak, Kushina, but you know he says a lot. Especially as of late.”

All traces of a smile were wiped off Kushina’s face, and both her hands cupped Kakashi’s head. Despite the bulge that should have stopped her, she leaned down to press her forehead to the teen’s. “I’m sorry I’m a pain in the ass sometimes, Kashi. Minato’s right. I will listen more closely now. And you should tell me more. Teach me hand language, too, because I can barely read your stupid doodles, it’s like rocks taught you how to write.”

“He’ll throw those rocks at you if you say that to him while he’s awake.”

She ignored him. “And you can always come to me with problems, you brat. I know you have been starving yourself since Obito got sick. It wasn’t your fault, idiot, anyone with brains can see that.”

“The council doesn’t.” muttered Minato angrily.

“That’s what I said, Minato.” She chided. “Anyway. Just come to me with your problems. I’ll hear you. Or read what you write, whatever. You’re like our son, so we worry a lot.  Don’t make us worry anymore, or I’ll throw you to Tsunade-san for a check-up and you won’t like it.”

It was Minato’s turn to smile.

And Kakashi slumbered on.


	11. A Team, Always

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kannabi Bridge mission--And how it was different.

**A Team, Always**   
Thirteen years old

He gritted his teeth and berated himself for sending Rin to the very back of their formation. She was a medic, and though he knew she could usually defend herself, they weren’t used to fighting Iwa nin. He should have put her in the middle, where she would be the most protected.

Obito glared at everything: trees, the ground, the rock he kicked out of the way. But, Kakashi noticed, he never once glared at him. Even if he was the one who gave the order that had put the girl in peril in the first place.

“Come on, _Captain_ , what do we do now?” There was feeling in the stress of the word, but Kakashi could tell it wasn’t scorn, wasn’t even angry. Obito really was just worried, and he had no intention of blaming the Hatake for anything.

It was not that Kakashi thought Obito hated him in any shape or form. In fact, the younger boy was positive that all three of his teammates were fundamentally incapable of such an emotion, but Kakashi also knew Obito, and he therefore was capable of acknowledging the fact that the Uchiha loved playing the blame game. Right now, however, the fifteen-year-old was just looking for guidance that Kakashi was too distracted to give, and he threw his partner a withering glance before he, too, glanced to both sides of the path they were standing on, balancing his options.

“Kakashi, I know what the rules say, and I know you are a sucker for them, but we have to get Rin back!” The boy claimed, dark eyebrows furrowing when he noticed the shorter male looking almost resolutely in the opposite direction of their teammate.

The Hatake scowled and turned to face Obito, feeling a pang of guilt in his chest when he saw the raw desperation hiding behind those loud orange goggles. He lifted his hands to sign that with his plan they could go back to get Rin once the mission was over.

“That’s just it, Kakashi!” The Uchiha shouted before the jounin could finish even one symbol “I wouldn’t even understand you if it wasn’t for her! She taught me this thing you do with your hands when you and sensei gave up! And you know what else she did?! She defended you! _All the time, Kakashi!_ When other people even _thought_ badly about you she would step up and tell them they were wrong and to stop making ill rumors out of you! She even confronted the Head of my clan, so I refuse to let you chose the mission over her! It’s not going to happen! You may be a jounin, but I’m not letting you become trash by abandoning the comrade that would do anything to keep _you_ safe!” Kakashi saw a flash of red on his teammate’s eyes before they returned to black, and stood startled at the outburst while the older boy gritted his teeth, his chest heaving up and down.

Kakashi lowered his arms and, with the memory of his father’s smile in mind, nodded.

**{…}**

It was Obito who saved them first, the red in his eyes returning when an invisible enemy attacked them as Kakashi observed the surroundings to make a rescue plan once they had located the enemy hideout. The Hatake had stared then, watching as the fifteen-year-old took off his goggles to study his hands closely, the enemy shinobi at his feet.

_“When…?”_ Began Kakashi, hands stopping when Obito returned his own bewildered expression.

“Strong emotions, I guess… I… was pretty concerned when I thought you’d pick the mission over Rin’s rescue.”

Kakashi didn’t know much about the Sharingan—the Uchiha kept the secrets to their eye technique in almost frightening silence—, so he just took the explanation in stride, straining not to pay attention to the way Obito’s whole frame swayed when their next enemy appeared.

It was a tough battle, and this time Kakashi called the shots, bodily pulling and pushing his teammate when the other boy’s reactions began to slow down almost at the same rate their opponent’s began to gain speed. With his tanto in his right hand and Obito’s chest supported by his left, Kakashi spun around in a somersault that gave him the momentum he needed to sever the Iwa man’s head.

“Rin’s in there.” Obito breathed, switching his sight from the most recent corpse to the cave in front of them. His breathing was labored but he was able to stand again, the two tomoe in each of his eyes spinning wildly. “Let’s go. I can feel she’s inside, but we took a while to get here…”

As he stood up, Kakashi placed a hand on his shoulder, pulling him back. The Uchiha turned to which Kakashi didn’t bother trying to sign to, instead choosing to jab a finger to his own chest and pointing in the direction of the cave, he gave the older teenager a blank look that told Obito he was not being allowed to follow.

“You can’t go by yourself!” Obito whispered harshly, pulling himself to his full height even though he knew his advantage in stature wouldn’t help against Kakashi.

The shorter boy glared, pointed at Obito’s eyes and shook his head.

“I just got tired because I wasn’t expecting it, I’m fine! The Uchiha can handle the Sharingan perfectly, I only needed time to adjust because it’s the first time I activate it.” His eyes steeled and remained red, though he adjusted his goggles back over them.

Kakashi studied him, lips stretching into a thin line under his mask, and finally nodded. He reached inside his hip pouch, producing a kunai with a bright red ribbon tied around it, and extended it to his friend.

“But what if you…!”

Kakashi forced the kunai into Obito’s palm. _“I know you. You won’t call for help. Use this. I’ll whistle should I need you.”_ He signed.

The older boy seemed reluctant to accept, but relented after concluding his teammate would be willing to knock him out to keep him from getting into the cave otherwise.

After explaining the dimensions of the cave to the younger boy, he observed in silence how Kakashi’s brow furrowed as he drew their attack plan on the ground, using his finger as a pencil to draw on the loose dirt. The plan was simple and rushed, but Obito knew better than to think he could strategize better than the Hatake, especially in the spur of the moment.

To their surprise, there was no one to attack them inside the cave, though Kakashi looked at Obito like he was at fault, and it took the Uchiha a second to remember he now had the Sharingan and even worse, that he was using it in that very moment and he _should_ have been able to tell if there were other chakra signatures other than Rin’s even if they were masking them. He flinched slightly and ignored the other boy while he tried to break the genjutsu his teammate was under while Kakashi untied her hands and ankles.

Rin snapped back to reality, yelling Obito’s name the second she saw the crimson eyes and her brain fetched the lagging information of their situation. When her hands were free, she turned to look at the youngest boy, throwing her arms around his smaller frame.

Kakashi looked at Obito over Rin’s shoulder, and though the Uchiha looked slightly betrayed, the Jounin could just make out that the black-haired boy was really, _really_ trying not to laugh at whatever face it was he was making.

Any trace of mirth was erased from Obito’s face, relief transforming into panic in less than a second, and soon he peeled Rin off their teammate by the back of her shirt, pulling her up and grabbing Kakashi by the arm to haul him to his feet like weighted nothing.

He didn’t even talk, just started running, both hands still latched to his teammates clothes. And the earthquake began. Rin stumbled, remained standing only because Obito was too stubborn or too scared to let go of her, and Kakashi barely had time to disentangle the front of his shirt from the older boy’s grasp before he evaded a rock that looked for all the world like its whole purpose had been to jab him in the head.

He had little time to reflect on that, but Kakashi was sure stones the size of his fist were not supposed to have grudges against him.

Then again, Kakashi didn’t actually know enough about rocks to dispute it.

For a second, the sight of trees above them came as a breath of fresh air, and then they were surrounded. All adults, most of them heavy-set and slow-looking, boulders engraved into scratched and shiny forehead protectors. Team Minato knew better than to judge abilities based on appearance, but they didn’t have much else to go on. All three of them prepared, covering each other’s backs, and then jumped as Kakashi’s hand lit up in blue sparks.

The teens, for weeks to come, swore up and down that the field blacked out the moment they sprung into action, but the blood in their weapons and clothes spoke of a violent, vicious battle. Minato was, of course, on the side of evidence, for when he got there the children were already halfway through the ranks, savagely finishing enemy after enemy.

The blond kept quiet, however, telling his true report only the Hokage while he fed the village a lie about his team being surrounded and outnumbered, all of them on the brink of exhaustion and ready to drop.

Minato hated lying, but he would do it all the time, if only to keep his three children pure a little longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have doubts about this chapter, but hey, I needed to get it done. This, along with the next two chapters, explains more or less what happened with Obito now that he didn't die.
> 
> I thought that now that Kakashi doesn’t have complete advantage over Obito and Obito has seen him struggle with the problems Kakashi’s muteness brings to everyday and shinobi life, Obito would be more willing to accept Kakashi as a good teammate, and his being a little older results in a bit of protectiveness. Not much, but enough to let Kakashi know he’s in front of a friend.


	12. Of Tag Teams and Dorks

**Of Tag Teams and Dorks**   
_ Twenty-six years old _

As the years hurried past, Kakashi and Obito’s tag team became tighter. They understood each other, had gone through many of the same hardships, even if the Uchiha hadn’t been able to follow the other into ANBU, and they shared the exact same bloodline limit.

_“I have a proposition for you, Kakashi.”_ Obito had said then, years back, only a couple of weeks after Kannabi Bridge.

The Hatake had listened, then shaken his head in refusal. That is, he refused until Obito saved his neck and demanded they traded eyes in exchange. At Kakashi’s questioning glance, the other boy had grinned and lifted two fingers.

_“First, we need to improve our teamwork and this will help. Second, I don’t know if you know, but using the Sharingan kinda blinds you, after too much use. This way, you’ll even be able to use Chidori, and I won’t go around using a cane by the time I’m thirty.”_ He stuck his tongue out, and after weighting up the options in his head, Kakashi had accepted, with the condition Obito would not regret it later.

The older boy had gotten sick. A chakra infection triggered by the legacy of the Hatake: White Chakra, which Kakashi hadn’t even known he had truly possessed. The eye transplant had worked nonetheless, and Obito was happy with their deal regardless of it landing him in the hospital for months in the end. Years, if one counted the daily follow-up appointments and the discharge from shinobi activity until they got true results.

Obito as a civilian.

Kakashi had almost snorted at the thought.

The Uchiha hadn’t stopped his training, and counted on all his teammates to keep sparring with him despite it almost killing him several times over. It wasn’t until after the death of the black-haired boy’s parents—the very same flush of blood that took their teacher away from them—that Obito insisted he be reinstated as a shinobi of Konoha.

It wasn’t easy, the aftereffects of the infection had followed him closely, and using too much of his power triggered dangerous attacks. But he had Rin, and he had Kakashi, and he was happy. Of course, until the silver-haired jounin pressed his hand to his transplanted eye—Kakashi’s eye by right of birth, Obito told himself—and looked at him so sternly it hurt.

Obito, then sixteen and stubborn to the point of folly, still shook his head. He knew what Kakashi felt without his Sharingan. _Forgotten. Useless._ His teammate had been weak before. Not because he couldn’t do things, but because he wasn’t easily recognized for it.

A mute as a powerful shinobi. Unheard of. The Uchiha had heard the gossip. Had spoken against it as loudly as he could, along with his teammate and teacher.

But then Kakashi was recognized. Strong. He stood tall even when others insulted him. Forced, hurt pride was making way for the man he knew Kakashi would grow up to be. Even Minato-sensei and Jiraiya-sama had said so, not long before the former had passed away and the latter left the village.

And Obito was willing to lead a relatively tranquil life by shinobi standards as long as Kakashi was willing to take the burden of the Sharingan over his shoulder.

Now they stood side by side—Kakashi signing, Obito translating—to the group of genin if front of them. The pink-haired girl looked at Obito in something akin to wonder, her green eyes shifting from the Uchiha boy in her team and back to the men, while said boy merely looked bored, the twinkle in his eye both jounin had seen when he was younger gone.

Obito nudged him, and Kakashi’s attention snapped back to the little girl, who was looking both confused and sheepish.

Kakashi extended his hand forward and motioned with his fingers for her to repeat what she had said.

“Ah, I-I was just, um…” She blushed deeply, her gaze now stuck between Obito and himself. “Sensei, if you can’t talk, how can we… um… learn from you…?”

She sounded so much like she wanted to jump off the roof that Kakashi had the grace not to glare at her. Beside him Obito chuckled while Sasuke growled something under his breath and glared in his stead, and Naruto just widened his eyes as if he had just noticed what going on.

Instead of signing and relaying on Obito to translate, he opened his notebook, wrote something, and approached the cowering pinkette, crouching to her height as she sat on the steps.

_‘You’ll just have to pass the next test and find out, won’t you, pinkie?”_

She stared for a whole minute, then glanced at Sasuke and shrunk away from his scowl, nodding. Kakashi nodded as well, then pulled himself to his full height and walked back over to his friend, who immediately smacked his back.

“OKAY!” he yelled. “Sasuke-chan, come on, Uncle Kakashi is taking you to dinner.” To his credit, he didn’t whiter under the Hatake’s or the younger Uchiha’s glares. “And you two, as well. Your sensei is honoring a big tradition and I’m following to make sure he pays up.”

“You just want to eat something that’s not burnt.” Sasuke’s quiet voice interrupted, though he had already gotten up and was dusting himself off as the other two cheered in their own way.

“Of course I do. But I _am_ making sure he doesn’t leave you the bill! He’s one smooth talker, this one.” Obito grinned to Kakashi’s eye roll. “And a hell of a fine ninja, too. He’ll escape if you let him.”


	13. (Not) Dead on Arrival

**(Not) Dead on Arrival**  
Twenty-one years old

Obito woke to Kakashi desperately shaking him by the shirt, and the twenty-three-year-old spluttered in his half-asleep state. Kakashi finally pulled him up in one swift motion, grabbing him by the collar until the dark-haired male groaned, finally supporting his own weight and pushing his friend away to massage his sore chest.

“Ow! Dude, I know I slept in your couch, but why do you need to throw me out so early?!” The Uchiha muttered, his hand pressing to massage his face and get rid of the strings pulling him back to sleep. He felt heavy, sluggish, and he was sure his skin was still too hot to the touch, but he forced himself to open his eyes.

Kakashi grabbed him by the shirt again, his breathing oddly distressed. When Obito finally looked at him, his friend’s face showed no emotion, but his eyes were coolly frightened, wide open and searching for enemies all around them.  Half his ANBU uniform was nowhere to be seen, and the bags under his eyes told Obito Kakashi hadn’t quite had a good night after returning from his rounds.

“Kakashi?” Obito ventured, throwing his own pain to the back of his head, careful to tread into dangerous territory on the Hatake’s mind. “Are you okay? What happened?”

But the younger man just clutched Obito’s wrist in a painful grasp, his other hand clearly prepared to defend the Uchiha if need arose, and Obito just had to wonder what the hell had triggered this… this whatever it was. Kakashi was clearly going into overdrive trying to protect Obito from something that just wasn’t there.

“Oi, Bakakashi, did you have a nightmare or something?”

It made no sense because he was still in his uniform—kinda—and that look in his eyes told him it was something else.

But soon they were moving, Kakashi in boots and Obito barefoot and in sleeping clothes he had borrowed from Kakashi’s closet, a pair of pants that fit oddly well and a shirt that was a tad too tight for him. The older man fought and cursed and demanded to know what was going on, but Kakashi would not even look back at him.

The hit was sudden. And it was only when he saw the bodies scattered across the streets of the Uchiha District that he noticed Kakahi’s hand—the one that wasn’t obscured by a black glove—was covered in blood, like he had dug among the corpses as others from the ANBU teams were doing.

Kakashi knew what it meant to lose his family. And he had been too terrified in Obito’s place when he saw this. Too terrified to change out of his uniform to get the information to his friend, and too terrified to notice his mask was nowhere to be found.

“E-Everyone?” Obito asked in a whisper, and Kakashi uncharacteristically squirmed just slightly next to him. “Did they check every house?”

The Hatake could only shrug, shaking his head and hoping Obito would understand his eyes, because he had forgotten his notebook and the dark-haired man was too busy looking around the complex to look at him for more than a second so he could sign.

Kakashi pointed in the direction of the Main House, and Obito almost felt himself blanch at the thought of little Sasuke, the only friend his and Kakashi’s protégé had ever made, gone. His pace was faster than he intended it to be, enough for a couple of the ANBU to try and stop him until they saw who it was that accompanied him, and got a better look at his face before stepping aside to let his through.

The Main House smelled rancid, and only Kakashi seemed to notice two other members of the Black Ops had followed them inside. Fugaku, Mikoto, and Sasuke were all in the same room, but Itachi was nowhere to be found. Kakashi grimaced at the sight, looking away to try and find any trace of the junior member of his squad as Obito stepped among the bodies, uncovered feet staining with red.

“He’s breathing!” Obito’s choked voice captured his attention again, and even when a woman, this one in full armor unlike himself, approached the only two surviving Uchiha, his friend snarled at her, his right eye glowing with the threatening red of the Mangekyo Sharingan, pressing the small body of his nephew to his chest. When she gave a step back, the black-haired man returned to his relative “Sasuke. Sasuke, come on, kid.”

Kakashi had to intervene. He placed a firm hand on Obito’s shoulder and motioned to the medic ninja who had arrived not seconds before. His friend still looked doubtful, looking at his younger teammate for guidance, and Kakashi wished he could just tell Obito everything was going to be okay, and that he was not leaving so anything him or Sasuke needed, they would get. He had to settle for the most meaningful look he could muster and placing an arm around his shoulders as his friend carefully surrendered the small boy to the medic.

“You two… change. Have a bite. He’s gonna be out of it for a while, and” The medic turned to Kakashi for this, visibly struggling with how he should act before just sighing. “Your friend needs to snap out of it. He’s just gonna scare the kid like this. Ask for him at the hospital when you’re ready.”

He disappeared with that, and Kakashi was pulled by his squad, who needed to be briefed about the situation. He asked for pen and paper, and of course everyone threw a pad at his head and dimmed his vision with pencils that were far too close to his face. He chose one of each, making sure his shoulder was still in contact with Obito’s arm.

_‘There seems to be just two survivors. Uchiha Obito wasn’t here last night. Uchiha Sasuke was only found moments ago.’_ He wrote. _‘But I cannot find Raven. Find him, or… well, if he isn’t found then there’s only one conclusion.”_ His hand was unsteady, and he forced himself to stop. He felt Obito’s pain, but he couldn’t keep doing it. He needed to be strong now, both for his friend and Sasuke, perhaps even for little Naruto, who lived who-knew-where and would just flip when he heard about this. _‘Don’t limit to the scene. Search. He could be hurt and alive.’_

He didn’t want to think that it was really him. But he searched among the bodies for hours, and no one reported seeing him. Kakashi just didn’t understand, because what he did to Rin was an accident and he felt like shit for it—still does—so he just doesn’t get why anyone could do it on purpose.

But he keeps his face schooled now that he knows his mask is not there, and helps Obito to his feet and with a nod to his fellow ANBU he half-supports his friend back to his apartment, where he basically throws him in the bathroom and hands him a sponge.

He wants to say something, _anything_ that would make Obito feel well enough to take a bath or a shower or whatever the fuck he does to get himself clean. But the Uchiha isn’t really looking, so sign language is out of the question, and the youngest jounin in history—or did that title belong to Itachi now? He couldn’t remember— can only whistle the other man out of his stupor.

Kakashi hates whistling. He sounds so damn annoying.

But it works, because Obito pushes him out of the bathroom and locks the door behind him, and soon Kakashi can hear the running water and he feels safe enough to go make them some breakfast and tea before they leave for the hospital.

He pointedly ignores the three bodies he can see by simply looking out his window, all dead by several complicated traps he placed around his home, but he enhances his chakra signature to tell every other attacker that Obito wasn’t alone, and he would not let whoever did this get away with it.

**{…}**

Sasuke is fine. Physically, nothing was done to him, but he doesn’t eat when his uncle offers him a bento he made out of the leftovers of their breakfast, and he only dips his head when Obito insists everything is going to be fine, that he’s not alone.

Kakashi isn’t sure if the kid is sad or angry, but it barely makes a difference when the Elders and the Hokage come to question the two survivors of the Uchiha Clan like they are the criminals they need to catch. Danzou’s shoulders are too rigid, his voice too cold, but the Hatake tells himself that it is just normal to be tense like that when Konoha has just lost most of its remaining founding Clan and the whole Military Police Corps.

“And why was Obito-kun not in the Compound last night?” The man asks almost fiercely, and the Hokage throws him an almost-unnoticeable dirty look.

The older Uchiha is half-sprawled on his chair, his head almost-but-not-quite supported by his friend’s shoulder, and his hand is holding Sasuke’s in a loving hold. His eyes are tired, eye-lids drooping. Kakashi can feel the excessive heat radiating off him in waves.

“Had a… miniature attack after training. I’d be totally fine right now, but I haven’t had proper rest.” Obito replies easily, though his words are a little slurred. A nurse is immediately on him, checking for the fever that is obviously there and then searches for chakra levels. “Stayed at Kakashi’s…”

Koharu frowns slightly, this time directing it the silver-haired man. “And you can confirm this?” She asks.

Kakashi shrugs, takes off a glove and shows the tattoo on the palm of his hand. ‘YES’.

“Were you aware of what had happened?”

The Hatake hesitates, unsure of the exact meaning of the question. Did the woman mean if he was aware of it before Obito was, or if he found out at the same time Obito did? Still, he raised his hand again. ‘YES’.

“Kakashi-kun was doing rounds around the village last night. The Uchiha Compound is one of his stops.” The Hokage explained patiently. “Kakashi, make sure to write a report about this. For now, though, simply make sure your companions sleep well.”

With that, the older man left, and the council soon followed, the nurse not far behind.

Obito had been moved to the vacant bed in the room, and was again sleeping soundly. When he turned and noticed Sasuke doing the same, Kakashi decided that yes, these two would be just fine. They had each other, and, if they needed it, he guessed he could always lend a shoulder or an ear. Probably.


	14. Speaking Louder than Words

**Speaking Louder Than Words**  
_Twenty-six years old_

When two men showed up to pick them up, Sakura went into high alert. Her academy teacher had only mentioned one person that was to be their teacher, and she only let her fear fall back when she noticed the Clan Symbol stitched on the sleeves of the black-haired man’s uniform. She was glad, after that, that Sasuke had stepped up to make Naruto drop his childish plan for a prank, or else they would have an angry Uchiha to deal with, plus another person to boot.

“Team seven,” The Uchiha man called. It was highly unnecessary—they were the only ones left in the classroom—but it still filled Sakura with giddy excitement that she would be on a _team_ with Sasuke Uchiha of all people. “You guys join us on the roof. We’ll be waiting.”

The Uchiha grinned at them and, as though they had practiced for perfect coordination, both men disappeared in identical puffs of smoke.

She blinked at the men, but Sasuke was already moving as if he had not found it even a little strange that there was an Uchiha with their teacher at all, or that said teacher had not bothered to even speak to them instead of letting the other man do it.

“Oi, idiot! Don’t leave without us!” Naruto yelled from where he had found a way to prop himself on the ledge near the ceiling. He jumped and fell on his face, and Sakura had to resist the giggle that threatened to erupt from her mouth. The orange boy stood with a whine, rubbing at his nose, and turned to the girl “Come on, Sakura-chan!”

She followed because Sasuke was waiting impatiently by the door, and not because Naruto had called her out on her slowness.

“Hey, Sasuke, you think Obito-nii will come on missions with us? They almost always go on missions together, right?” That was Naruto, grinning from ear to ear as he bounced up and down on the flight of stairs.

Sasuke regarded his question with a noncommittal grunt, then muttered a quiet “who knows? He didn’t tell me.” And Sakura blinked because, well, she was expecting more insults and banter and less of this sort-of-friends-but-not-really-but-yes-we’re-totally-friends sort of conversation. Because, honestly, that’s what they did in class, and she had never seen them together outside the academy.

“Um,” She interrupted as the blond was about to make another comment. The group took a turn to take the second-to-last flight of stairs leading to the roof. “Do you… Sasuke-kun, do you know them?”

Naruto, who had brightened at being included in the question, deflated visibly when the girl amended her wording, pouting. Sasuke merely looked at her and sighed like he did when Kiba was asked a question in class; like she was hopeless and didn’t even deserve the time of day. He pointed at his back, motioning for the symbol that branded him as an Uchiha, and left it at that.

Of course Sakura should have known better, and that’s what she told herself. She knew—everyone did, really—that something had happened to all of the Uchiha when she was seven, and now it was only Sasuke and some other unknown man. She should have figured they were living together after the tragedy. Or that they knew each other, at the very least.

She shut her mouth, and ignored Naruto when the boy tried to pat her arm, moving it away from his grasp and crossing it over the other in front of her chest. Naruto whined, but he was a bright ball of orange energy and soon perked himself up, quickening his pace to catch up to Sasuke who was further up the stairs, grabbing a fistful of his shirt and trying to convince him to let him sleepover the next few nights.

The men were waiting at the roof. The silver-haired man managing to look thoroughly uninterested even with the mask hiding half his face. The Uchiha, on the other hand, grinned wildly and waved a hand at the newly appointed Genin.

Both Sasuke and Naruto walked to the steps in front of them without much of a care, and Sakura had no real choice but to trail behind them, sitting alongside her new teammates. From her seat, she looked up at the Jounin, and she couldn’t help but feel tiny.

The silver-haired man walked forward, only a step in front of the older Uchiha, and raised his hands, looking at both boys and then focusing mainly on Sakura as his hands began to move.

“I am Hatake Kakashi,” The voice of the Uchiha drifted from behind their sensei’s shoulder. Sakura looked at him, but he was focused on the signs the other man was making. “This is Uchiha Obito.” At this, the black-haired man grinned and waved again, like he was in front of a big crowd. “He’ll be with our team until we have all learned to work as a well-developed unit. You have been taught sign-language at the academy, but I am aware of how ill prepared your teachers are to deal with it properly.”

Sakura stared dumbfounded at the man. She felt a righteous anger take over her at the indirect insult to Iruka-sensei, but neither Sasuke nor Naruto seemed to think there was anything particularly odd about this whole arrangement, or found it in them to argue their poor sign-reading skills. Granted, she didn’t expect _Naruto_ to say anything, but Sasuke was another matter.

“Be warned,” the voice of the Uchiha carried over her thoughts “That you are not yet an official cell. There’s one more test you need to get by.” The silver-haired man—Kakashi-sensei, she reminded herself—dropped his hands and shoved them in his pockets. Obito-san, on the other hand, leaned in, supporting part of his weight on the other man’s shoulder. “Honestly, we usually keep it a surprise, but Sasuke has seen us screen enough teams to know about the whole thing. He doesn’t know what the test is,” Obito clarified, “but he knows this isn’t the end. We figured it would be fair to let you two know as well.”

It was the Uchiha and not Kakashi-sensei who motioned for them to introduce themselves, and if she was honest, Sakura had to say the man was thinking of something else entirely, clearly didn’t care for them like the other teachers had seemed to do with their own teams. She introduced herself and very clearly made a fool of herself in front of the older Uchiha, who didn’t really seemed to mind the nonsense that came out of her or Naruto’s mouth in the first place.

When they were done, there were ten full seconds of silence then Obito cleared his throat. “So, any questions, then?”

Meekly, Sakura raised her hand, and the man pointed at her with his chin. She looked over at Kakashi-sensei, and the Uchiha had to hit the guy’s shoulder with his own before gray eyes zeroed on her. She waited for her signal and then,

“Ah, I-I was just, um…” She blushed deeply, her gaze now stuck between the men. “Sensei, if you can’t talk, how can we… um… learn from you…?”

The effect was immediate. Obito chuckled while Sasuke growled something under his breath and glared at her like he could make her drop dead where she sat, and Naruto’s eyes just widened as if he had just noticed what going on.

All right, so Sasuke did know this guy, not just the other one. She couldn’t figure if Naruto did, though, despite his comments earlier, because that reaction meant he hadn’t known about this at all.

(And it wasn’t that Naruto had never seen Kakashi before. In fact, almost every time he looked up when he was surrounded by glares and knives, the man had been standing there, had even saved him a few times. It just simply happened that Naruto had been so thrilled by the stranger that he never once thought of stopping his running commentary of the village or his day at the academy until the man patted his head in good bye. And then, When they finally met without a porcelain mask hiding the man’s face, it was Obito who kept up a one-sided conversation almost every time. How was he supposed to know he couldn’t even speak?)

Kakashi simply held her gaze, and Obito snapped his mouth shut, turned to his friend with what looked was going to be a comforting gesture, until he walked forward, pulling out a small notepad from the pouch at his hip. She tensed as he came to crouch in front of her, showing her the written message.

_You’ll just have to pass the next test and find out, won’t you, pinkie?”_

She stared for a whole minute, then glanced at Sasuke and shrunk away from his scowl, nodding. Kakashi nodded as well, then pulled himself to his full height and walked back over to his friend, who immediately smacked his back.

“OKAY!” The Uchiha yelled. “Sasuke-chan, come on, Uncle Kakashi is taking you to dinner.” Sakura had to resist looking over to see Sasuke’s reaction at the nickname. “And you two, as well.” The man continued, looking between Naruto and Sakura “Your sensei is honoring a big tradition and I’m following to make sure he pays up.”

“You just want to eat something that’s not burnt.” Sasuke’s quiet voice interrupted, though he had already gotten up and was dusting himself off as Naruto whooped and Sakura closed her eyes in silent satisfaction.

“Of course I do. But I _am_ making sure he doesn’t leave you the bill! He’s one smooth talker, this one.” Obito grinned to Kakashi’s eye roll. “And a hell of a fine ninja, too. He’ll escape if you let him.”


	15. Esto Perpetua

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Latin. Let it be eternal.

**Esto Perpetua  
** _ Twelve years old _

Jiraiya loved Kakashi. Really, he did. He loved the boy like he was his own, and hated having to leave him alone to fend for himself in a village that hadn’t quite lost its hatred for him and his father, despite the rumors and accomplishments he had produced at such a young age (bingo book mugshot at eleven? Who would have guessed?). But the sannin also had a duty to the village, and so he was practically MIA for months in the end only to return to Konoha to find out his almost-nephew was in some sort of important mission and/or he was a step closer to the Jounin promotion neither Jiraiya nor his student were particularly fond of.

Jiraiya would linger in the village for a couple of weeks in which he researched the bathhouse, ate everything he could from Kushina’s repertoire in cooking, made a meek but passionate attempt to rebuild the burnt bridges with his old cellmates, and do the impossible to baby and embarrass Kakashi in front of his two bratmates. Not that the damn kid and his litter of dogs—and when _had_ Kakashi learned to summon, for Kami?—were ever embarrassed by his actions.

He liked to think he was making some sort of difference; that his efforts, though short lived, were helping his young adoptive nephew to once again grow comfortable in his skin and with his heritage. He owed as much to Sakumo.

Of course he noticed. Jiraiya found it impossible to miss the glint that began to make its way back to the boy’s eyes, which had been smothered too suddenly after his father’s untimely and unfair demise; saw the rift between Kakashi and the Uchiha boy be closed up by a fraction every time he pet or carried the child against his will; the way Kakashi seemed more willing to interact with his peers, even if it was only to get as far away as humanly possible from him and his idea of affection.

And naturally, the sannin couldn’t quite shake off the hurt he saw in Kakashi’s eyes every time he had to leave Konohagakure once more.

“You’re not alone.” He told the boy, in the safety of the apartment Hiruzen had given him when he expressed his wishes to leave his father’s house. It was the night previous to his departure. “Your team is here. And there’s also that green boy that likes to fight with you.” The Hatake pulled a face at that that was obvious even under his face mask, and Jiraiya had to laugh.

The boy lifted his hands but then lowered them with a slump of his shoulders, making the man fill with guilt at having to expose the boy to be protected from s-ranked missing-nin that lurked outside the walls surrounding the village.

He left quietly the next morning, simply looking at his charge sleep for a couple of minutes before exiting through the window, and leaving his beloved village behind for who knew how long.

It was only unpacking half a year later, when he finally allowed himself to rest for more than two days at a time in a civilian village deep inside the Land of Water, that he noticed a small bookmark hidden inside one of the many pockets of his backpack. He admired the ten ageless elements beautifully painted in the front before turning it over.

The man resisted a mixture of laughter and proud tears at the words scribbled messily on the back, as if the sender had been fighting with his own desire and pride to write down something close enough to feelings. Jiraiya grinned, placed the bookmark neatly inside his notebook and laid down, closing his eyes and trying hard to imagine a voice to go with the heartfelt words and diminishing bratty attitude.

_‘Always come back’  
—Kakashi_


	16. Anagnorisis

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Ancient Greek. A moment in a play in which a character makes a critical discovery.

**Anagnorisis**  
_three months old_

It first strikes Sakumo as strange that his little boy doesn’t wake him up in the dead of night, especially when he himself is prone to getting up at three in the morning and doing something stupid like buying ice cream for a friend that is no longer there, or worse, taking said ice cream to the hospital in case his late wife will want in on his idiocy.

The fact that Kakashi seemingly sleeps through the night so young is a red flag that something is amiss—babies are supposed to be loud, after all. He has heard both the sob and horror stories his teammates tell around the campfire on long missions, when spirits are low and the heartless weapons the village calls shinobi long to return home and into the chubby arms of their infants.

It is only weeks later, when Sakumo wakes up in the middle of the night for the third time after Kakashi was born, that he truly realizes the gravity of the situation. The man has a horrible feeling in his gut, he is agitated, his hands shaking though he cannot tell why, and he is running to his son’s nursery.

He bounds through the door with a speed he hadn’t been able to reach since he was sixteen and, though no enemy is in sight, drapes himself across the crib, lifting the tiny, fragile human in strong arms. Sakumo’s breath hitches, because it’s painfully obvious that his child is not breathing and not even a lifetime of training can prepare him for that.

Sakumo is quick to unlatch the bars, and the railing doesn’t drop completely before the man has laid Kakashi down on the mattress and is performing CPR on the one person he hoped he would never have to. And the man repeats to himself that it could have not been that long since this happened. Kakashi is warm still, Kakashi has color in his cheeks, Kakashi is not any stiffer than he was yesterday and looking around wide-eyed at everything that moved.

He is only terrified to know there wasn’t even a warning. Sakumo didn’t know much about babies, but he thought that the child would cry or whine or scream if something like this was going to happen. And as he bends down to breathe into Kakashi’s mouth for the eight time, the only thing the man can think about is how Kakashi has never, _ever_ made a noise in the whole three months he has been alive.

When Kakashi is breathing again, his face gets red, and diminutive arms and legs shoot out to kick and punch and flail, fat tears running down the boy’s cheeks as Sakumo once again pulls him into his arms to comfort him, murmuring ‘ _it’s okay_ ’s and ‘ _you’re fine, baby, I’m here_ ’s, and tries not to think that maybe Kakashi _has_ cried before, and Sakumo was inadvertently teaching him that there would be nobody to come to his aid when he needed help.

The next day the doctor tells Sakumo that Kakashi has some sort of stiff vocal chords and something else happened to his throat and, really, Sakumo may be a little too out of it to understand what the woman is saying at all. And honestly, the man doesn’t really care _why_ his little boy is mute, just wants to know what is going to happen from now on.

The doctor, in her own right, is baffled that this jounin had no clue that his own son will need some very particular attention in a village that is not truly prepared for someone like Kakashi. A child who cannot speak, with an elite shinobi for a father and the promise of a life of danger and missions with teammates who will need to be specially trained to deal with him.

In the end, the doctor can only recommend some things that will be useful once Kakashi is a little older, and insists Sakumo should talk to the Hokage to see to any accommodations that might be required if the man still wanted to put the boy through the academy, come the right time.

Sakumo only half-listens, noting down the items in the vault of his mind and not bothering to talk to Sarutobi at all, lest the man tells him Kakashi should look for other life career choices before the boy can even learn to roll over.

Really, the only change Sakumo makes in his family’s routine is having Kakashi at his side when they go to sleep, if only so he can be more aware of emergencies that may arise.

He tells Sarutobi about Kakashi’s condition, of course, along with Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru; mostly because he cannot keep it forever a secret, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t hate the way Orochimaru frowns like one of his secret experiments was discovered and passes the boy to Tsunade with as much grace as a genin trying to climb a tree with chakra as their only tool.

The Hokage reassures him that everything is okay. That everything _will be_ okay. That if Kakashi really wants to go to the academy, he’ll make sure he has everything he will need, and, when he graduates, he’ll get him a teacher both smart and understanding. Sakumo cannot thank him enough.

And, okay, maybe seeing Jiraiya pulling silly faces at the baby like nothing is out of the ordinary makes him feel a little better, too.

Only then does it Sakumo him that nothing _is_ out of the ordinary. Kakashi was just fine. He was alive, and he was safe, and he was his cute little son. And though he could already see some odd quirks forming, even though he’d need patience and willpower (both from Sakumo and Kakashi himself) to break the barriers usually put upon shinobi, there was nothing _wrong_ with the boy. He was just Kakashi.


	17. Ataraxia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title: Greek. Tranquility/A state of serene calmness.

**Ataraxia  
** _ Four years old _

Maito Gai is five when he sees the baby walk into his classroom.

He recognizes Sakumo merely by chance. He has seen him walking around the village, smiling and cordially greeting everyone who waved or bowed and even yelled at him from afar. His father had explained to him that he was a jounin; a highly ranked and respected soldier that was on a first name basis with all three of the Sannin, probably even the Hokage.

He does not recognize the little kid trailing behind him, back straight in a military stance. With that size, he looks like a toddler, though he doesn’t toddle at all when he walks. Sakumo-sama speaks with the teacher, very quietly, then sort of pats the baby on the head like he would a dog, and leaves.

Gai learns the boy is _not_ a baby when the teacher introduces him to the class, which has been active for around two months now. No, Hatake Kakashi is not a baby. He’s _four_. And he’s been in the grade under them for a little bit before the teachers bumped him up a level.

When Kakashi is told to sit next to him, Gai moves his backpack to the floor and waits for the other boy to sit down. Kakashi is four! Which means Gai is older for a _whole_ year and his dad has told him to be nice and welcoming to people younger than him.

His Nice Guy Greeting is mostly ignored, Kakashi merely shoots him a glance before he opens his notebook and takes out a pencil, waiting for the teacher to start.

_Ha!_ Gai thinks. _He’s shy!_

Since Kakashi is shy and small and young and all the girls gossip that he’s really cute (Gai doesn’t really get that one, he can’t even see half of the boy’s face), Gai takes it up to himself to make him feel comfortable. All the others seem to make it their mission to hate him. The boys in the class tease him, though Kakashi never responds, and the girls baby him and Kakashi mostly steers clear from them.

Gai does kinda get that. When he told his dad about it, he had said that they were training to be soldiers, no one at the academy wanted to be babied. Still, he forces his dad to wait with him until Gai is sure Sakumo has come to pick Kakashi up. He does this every day for two weeks before Kakashi just looks at him weird and walks home instead of waiting.

Despite Kakashi ignoring him, Gai continues and renews his efforts every time he feels himself falter. Kakashi needs a friend! And he doesn’t talk to anyone even though he’s been in the class for almost two months now.

And then, Hiro attacks.

It’s not a physical attack. Hiro Sawamura merely gathers a bunch of boys and approaches Kakashi, mostly to make fun of him and insult him. Gai wants to help, but just last week he was made fun of because of who his dad is, and he doesn’t want to risk it, for more that he tells his legs to move. He doesn’t want a detention again.

Kakashi doesn't react to the insult the older boy throws his way, unless you call turning and staring a reaction—which Gai _doesn't_. And he just can't understand. If it had been him, he would have gotten angry, screamed and yelled and frowned and punched, even though his father has always told him a smile and confidence is the best way to get rid of the bullies.

Why isn't the kid defending himself? He has seen Kakashi's notebook during class. All his answers are always right, even if he never says he knows them when the teacher asks for volunteers. Some answers have words that Gai couldn't even wrap his head around. So why is Kakashi just standing there instead of retorting with an even better, more demeaning term?

Gai frowns and archives the question until the academy releases them, and he rushes home to find his dad crouched over a bowl of miso soup, magazine on hand.

"GAI! HOW DID—"

"Why didn't Kakashi say anything when Hiro called him stupid?"

Dai stares at his son for a full five seconds, smile thwarted into a confused frown "Kakashi...?"

"Yes!" And if maybe he sounds a little more indignant than he should that Dai doesn't know who this person is, well, that was a matter for another time, he supposes. "He's in my class, remember? He's the _tiny_ one!"

It clicks then. Dai whispers _Sakumo's boy_ more to himself than for his son's benefit. He focuses on the matter at hand, but reminds himself to correct Gai, because Kakashi is not all that small, he is just younger than everyone in the class.

But yes, now he does remember.

Dai ponders over what to tell his son, and he has a long, well-structured answer before he panics because he’s not sure the children are supposed to know about Kakashi’s condition. He is the son of a Bingo Book shinobi, and telling the kids might put the Hatake boy in jeopardy, he doesn’t even know. In the end, Dai just blurts out "Well, son, he's just being the better man!" And grins.

Gai looks like he was struck by lightning, like he suddenly understands everything the world has to offer.

The boy repeats that to himself over and over.

_He's just being the better man._

During the sparring matches the next day, he sees Kakashi flip Hiro over and then punch him repeatedly on the nose until the wide-eyed teacher hoists him off and puts him on the ground so he can get to the bleeding boy. For the rest of the day, Kakashi doesn't look even remotely guilty. If anything, Gai could have sworn he looked outright pleased.

_He's_ not _trying to be the better man._

Still, the fight lights a fire in Gai's eyes.

Maito Gai is six when he walks up to now-upperclassman Hatake Kakashi (Who is _still_ tiny, no matter what Dad says), slams his hands on his desk and then the younger boy looks up, looking positively annoyed despite the scarf that covers half his face.

Gai pulls himself to his not-very-impressive full height and points at Kakashi with an accusing finger. He gathers air in his lungs and shouts "Fight me, Kakashi!"

And Kakashi _does_.


	18. Hinge of Fate

**Hinge of Fate  
** _ Seventeen years old _

_‘Will you?’_

Itachi can only stare at the small notebook in front of him like it’s made out of either question marks or of enemy headbands. His black eyes shift to look at the toddler in the silver-haired man’s arms.

Kakashi is covered in blood. The little boy is covered in blood, too, but Itachi can’t see any scratch on any of them, and he can see that none of the people unconscious around them has suffered anything worse than a large bruise in their napes. Kakashi had clearly controlled himself.

“I—” Itachi begins, not knowing what to say. He can recognize the child. His mother took him to see him, years back, when Sasuke too had been but a baby. But Father might not be happy if he said yes. Sasuke could become another victim to the abuse, even though he truly doubts it because the symbol he carries on the back of his shirt protects him against most things.

Kakashi cuts him off before Itachi can continue. He doesn’t even know how the man does it, just that he does. He feels a wave of hostile chakra and his mouth is sealed and he cannot force it open because his fear is so great.

The man kneels in front of him, and he’s still taller than himself.

After a second, Kakashi offers the child for Itachi to carry. The look in the man’s eyes is inquisitive and warded, but he looks resigned, like he’s doing this because he has no other choice.

Itachi takes Naruto because _he_ has no other choice either. Hatake-sama is the youngest jounin around, is the student of the deceased fourth Hokage. He takes Naruto because he knows Kakashi-sama has a friend in the hospital who is fighting for his life, and another one who died only months ago. Itachi has seen jounin kill just about anyone in their grief, and he doesn’t want to get that kind of wrath thrown on him.

And to Itachi’s surprise, Naruto is…warm. Warm and soft, not unlike Sasuke is. Tender. Small. Fragile. Full of promise. Itachi thinks he can almost see this little blond boy twenty years in the future, grinning atop the Hokage tower with only those odd whisker marks scarring his face.

_‘They won’t let me take him. Your mother tried to adopt him as well, but she was denied, too.’_ Kakashi signs once Itachi finally looks up from the mop of blond hair. _‘I’ve been saving him from these people for a while, but… he needs a friend.’_ Kakashi shrugs almost helplessly, and Itachi thinks he might have found something that the man can’t do but he can. _‘Mikoto-san was friends with Naruto’s mom, she’ll be happy about this. And if Naruto’s friend is an Uchiha, it can only work to his advantage.’_

Kakashi pauses when he remembers he’s talking to an eight-year-old, genin or not, who has not been extensively trained in sign language because it only just became mandatory in the academy after Itachi graduated. Not that they are doing an impressive job of things, really. None of the kids know more than a couple of letters, cannot even form the simplest of words.

Besides, Kakashi knows how protective Itachi is of his brother, and if he thinks it might put Sasuke in peril to be friends with Naruto, he will not only say no, he will probably tell Fugaku about the whole deal and Kakashi honestly has more than enough in his plate right now.

But Itachi seems… taken. Hypnotized with the way little Naruto is babbling in his sleep. It takes a full ten minutes of silence before the boy looks at him in the eye again.

“I know my mother was friends with Kushina-san.” Itachi says, and Kakashi can only wonder where he picked up the sign-language from. “I’ll help Naruto-chan be friends with Sasuke, Hatake-sama, but I don’t know about a place to live.”

Hatake Kakashi is much too happy about the turn of events to be discouraged by the fact Naruto will need to go back to the orphanage. He nods and pulls his ANBU mask back in place, taking Naruto back from the young boy’s arms.

_‘I’ll make sure he’s at the park tomorrow.”_ Kakashi is back to using his notebook, and Itachi nods in understatement. The man stands up, looks down at the young Uchiha and writes _‘You know sign-language.’_

Itachi takes the statement as the question it’s supposed to be. “Obito-aniki taught me.” And instead of waiting for Kakashi to leave, Itachi takes initiative and turns around to begin his walk back to the Uchiha Compound.

And damn him if Kakashi doesn’t sneak actual food to Obito’s hospital room that night.


	19. Tiny Little Tough Guy

**Tiny Little Tough Guy**  
_Sixteen years old_

The first time Naruto met Kakashi, it was raining. The tiny boy was standing behind the taller one, looking at the unconscious villagers around them with wide, dark blue eyes—Kakashi never did understand if that had been a trick of the light or if there was some sort of medical reason those irises became the color of the sky as Naruto grew older.

When Kakashi turned to check on the little blond, kneeling and taking Naruto’s head in his hands for inspection, he expected the child to flinch. To cry and run because he was used to adults harming him instead of helping him and the mean man in the freaky black clothes would frighten him to no end, surely.

So he was surprised when instead the diminutive two-year-old had blinked owlishly and cocked his head to the right.

“Why’d ya wear a mas’?”

The porcelain hiding his face had become like a second skin, and even then Kakashi couldn’t help but feel startled when he caught it’s reflection in the mirror—He couldn’t help feeling scared even when it was his own real face that was reflected, because it reminded him Rin, brave Rin, had died only three weeks ago and it was no one’s fault but his own.

Kakashi was, then, understandably bewildered when this little kid who could barely walk by himself stared at him without a shred of fear in his face. One whisker-marked cheek was beginning look a little green, and he was sure that it would soon fade into a deep purple before diminishing.

Kakashi could not reply. There was no way this boy knew sign-language, let alone how to read, and he was angry all over again at the council for letting an innocent child suffer through this abuse the village offered anyone who was different.

Naruto tensed when a hand reached for his hair, then let out a surprised squeal when it ruffled the blond locks, even if it contacted painfully against a bump on his head. The little boy didn’t even think of fighting when the masked man picked him up and held him against his chest.

And then Naruto was flying.

The village became a blur and he could only catch a glimpse when the man stopped for less than a second to jump on another rooftop. The rain now felt like pebbles in his face instead of a gentle drizzle, but his stomach flipped excitedly at the movement, so he could not bring himself to care.

For the first time since he had first seen him lying in a crib as a newborn, Kakashi heard Naruto’s laughter echo through the village, overcoming the overwhelming sound of the rain.

He immediately changed his course.

Screw the council, he could take care of Naruto, even if just this one night.


	20. We Must be Killers

**We Must be Killers**  
_Eight years old_

The stench was dizzying, and the tanto was stuck. Kakashi leered at the corpse at his feet, put his foot on the man’s shoulder, and pushed down while he wiggled his weapon out of the man’s chest. With a sickening wet sound, the small sword came loose, and Kakashi slashed the air to get rid of the guts and excess of blood from the fine blade.

Not bothering to remove the shiny red stains that remained, Kakashi holstered the tanto. He stared with dark gray eyes to the grown shinobi from Rain that had simply taken him too lightly.

“Kakashi?”

The boy blinked at his name and then stared with dark gray eyes to the grown shinobi from Rain that had simply taken him too lightly.

“Kakashi.” This time Minato did move him; grabbed him by the face and pulled slightly so the boy would tear his eyes away from his victim. “Are you okay?”

Kakashi nodded, and only then chose to see what had become of their battlefield. The ground was red with blood, and at least thirty shinobi were all but littered around them. It should have been raining, the little boy thought. Raining and cold and dark. But it wasn’t. It was a beautiful day; the sky was bluest than he had ever seen, not a cloud in sight, and the lukewarm air was a breeze at best.

But still, the ground was red with blood. And he could hear, now that he paid attention, whimpers coming from somewhere behind him.

Minato nodded, patted his hair, and stood.

“I’m getting Obito, then. This was too hard on him.” Kakashi followed his teacher as the blond made his way back to the place the attack had begun, his steps big and careful to avoid the dead. Kakashi stepped on the leg of one of the corpses and wanted to cringe, but didn’t.

 _‘This is how it is.’_ he told himself. _‘Killing should be as easy as breathing. Breathing is natural.’_

Obito was sobbing even as their teacher pulled him tight to his chest, balancing the older boy in his arms. The ground at his feet was covered in vomit. Rin wasn’t bawling, but she still had tears on her cheeks and her hands were shivering, though she looked stable enough. Kakashi tried to put a comforting hand on her arm.

_‘Sensei said this is what teammates do.’_

Rin pulled away. She didn’t even let Kakashi brush her shoulder with his fingertips, and Kakashi quickly withdrew into himself, frowning.

Minato saw and grimaced, but didn’t tell the boy to clean the blood off his hands.

“Come on, kids, our mission here is done. It’ll take a while to go back to the village, so speak up if you need to rest or use the restroom.”

It was night by the time they crossed the heavy village gates and proved their identities. Minato informed the guards that he’d go give his report the next morning, to tell the Third not to expect him.

Kakashi and Rin trailed behind their teacher, and it was only halfway through Konoha that Kakashi realized they were walking Rin home.

Minato knocked on the door because Rin was stiff and her fingers were twitching wildly at every small sound around her. It was with a forlorn expression that their teacher explained what had happened to the man who opened the door. It was against protocol, but it was also against protocol to have to see such an assassination on a c-rank mission, so Minato didn’t care.

He pushed Rin lightly towards her father, and she managed to turn to them and smile before disappearing through the threshold of her home. It was a forced smile, a broken expression that had Minato holding a still-distraught Obito even tighter.

They didn’t even bother trying to go to the Uchiha District. With no parents to speak of, the other Clan members would barely look in Obito’s direction and the boy would need someone to help him through the night.

Instead, Minato signaled for Kakashi to follow, and took both boys to his own home. Kakashi didn’t even look twice at the extra pair of sandals and the dirty bowls in the sink.

“Kushina doesn’t clean after herself sometimes.” Minato brought up conversationally.

When Kakashi didn’t shrug or blink or react at all, the blond sighed and stepped into the living room, crossing it quickly to get to the bathroom, starting up the shower as warm as it could go without burning.

He then put Obito down; big, clumsy Obito who wouldn’t hurt a fly and today was forced to kill a child.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay, Obito-kun. It’s okay, you’re safe.” Minato cooed over and over as he peeled the vomit-stained clothes off his student and pushed the boy under the showerhead. The Uchiha had an iron grip on his hand, and Minato slowly eased it until he was able to move his hand away. “It’s fine, buddy. See, I’m just going to change and bring you clothes, all right? I’ll leave the door open. Kushina’s not here. I’ll be right back.”

Obito nodded though he really looked like he didn’t want to, and watched as his teacher took off his vest and shirt, stained with both blood and his student’s breakfast, and threw them on a laundry basket to be washed later.

True to his promise, Minato left and came back in less than two minutes, dressed in a fresh t-shirt and some clothes he put on the floor to aid Obito scrub the blood from his hands and face. He then pulled the uncooperative child out of the shower and insisted that he dressed himself, though Minato still had to adjust the sweatpants to Obito’s size himself.

Thankfully, the boy was at least quiet now.

Minato led the Uchiha back to the living room, where Kakashi was reading the book he had left on the coffee table, perfectly clean and dressed in spare clothes he kept in the man’s home just in case. Obito sat next to him, knees drawn to his chest.

“Kakashi, are you okay?” He asked for the fifth time that day. And again, Kakashi only nodded, looking utterly at peace with himself.

All three of them still had tea and warm bread until Kushina burst through the front door, yelling about some nonsense or the other. Obito flinched and sniffled, and Minato sighed and pulled the boy into his lap, rubbing a comforting hand on the boy’s back.

Kushina threw a questioning glance to Minato, who could merely smile weakly at her. She understood immediately, and cooked them an easy-to-eat dinner which they all shared while she tried to keep Obito’s attention with interesting stories about her childhood.

It worked, to an extent. Obito was calm enough by the time they all retired to bed, and even tried to see if Kakashi was really okay because _how could he_ be?

**{…}**

Minato woke up at three in the morning, rubbing his eyes to help them adapt to the dark. He was surprised to already see Kushina sitting up on the bed, biting her lip and eyes shining with tears she wouldn’t shed.

“He’s been at it for fifteen minutes.” She informed. But it wasn’t her place to go and help. He was the teacher, not her. Minato stood up and walked out of the bedroom, sniffles and the sound of running water flooding the hallway.

Kakashi was standing on a stool in front of the sink, shoulders heaving, hands under the faucet and face flushed as a ragged breathing took over him. His teeth were chattering, the back on his mouth hissing as he tried to keep his dry sobs to himself.

Minato walked over to shut off the water and grabbed Kakashi’s hands to inspect them. He held them in place when Kakashi struggled, turning them over with gentle care. The boy had scrubbed his hands raw this time, so Minato carefully dried them, not saying a word. Kakashi still looked surprised, just as he did every time this happened, as he worked to put himself back in control. Minato still couldn’t understand why the boy thought he wouldn’t be able to hear him, a child in need, no matter the circumstances.

“Shh, don’t worry anymore. Your hands are clean, Kashi-kun. They’re clean, I promise.” Kakashi didn’t melt against his chest like Obito had, and Minato had to remind himself this wasn’t the first time his youngest student had killed. “Come on, let’s go show Kushina you’re all good, all right?”

Kakashi didn’t answer, but he let himself be guided to the woman’s sight.


	21. Soñé que la nieve ardía

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Title: Spanish. I dreamt the snow was burning. 
> 
> Pronunctiation: (Soh-nyeh keh lah nee-eh-veh R-dee-ah)
> 
> The title only has the first word capitalized because that's how titles in Spanish work. There, now you know something new =)

**Soñé que la nieve ardía  
** _ Eighteen years old _

Hiro Sawamura rushed back to his team, scroll in hand. The wind whistled in his ears, and he could barely hear the faint flutter of wings as one of Konoha's eagles began its flight back to the village.

"Reinforcements are well on their way!" He told the other men, all who, like him, sported bloody bandages around legs and torsos and heads "They should get here soon."

And soon they did arrive. Clad in green flak jackets, both man and woman landed in front of the cell not five minutes later, faces stern and quickly shouldering past the wounded team.

"Where was the last place you saw him?" Asked Obito Uchiha. Clammy skin and purple bruises under his eyes did little to hide the light tremble that had taken control of his hands.

Without really waiting for an answer, he shivered at the freezing air, and had to look down to make sure his feet were not being swallowed by the snow.

“He gave the signal to run about a mile from here, sir! We haven’t seen enemies since, but Kakashi-senpai was wounded when we left.”

Obito gritted his teeth and, next to him, felt his partner tense almost audibly.

“You left him by himself?!” Her face remained impassive, but she had audibly bristled.

One of the young jounin glared at her. “Fuck it, Kurenai, what’s with you?”

“What’s with her is that you left your squad leader behind, knowing full well he was injured.” Obito reprimanded, visibly struggling to keep his voice under control. “What about a chakra signature?”

The three other men vacillated, throwing each other swift glances and then looking down as if the snowy path would help them reply.

“There, uh, never was any chakra signature, sir. Not even before we left the village.” Said the youngest. He was tall, but scrawny, and held himself like a chastised child.

“You’re shitting me. How did you ever make jounin?” Obito told the team. He shook his head, then took a glance at his partner “Kurenai, let’s check out the area. These rookies have been here for hours already.”

He disappeared in a blur, and the younger ninja swiftly followed. The ‘one mile’ reference had been utterly ridiculous, but at least Team Dumbass had been right, there was no chakra signature whatsoever. They had been looking for too long. The waning light had all but disappeared behind the peak of the mountain, and as the hours crawled by, the temperature had dropped. The air had picked up until shards of ice were violently cutting their skin and they had to scream at each other to be heard.

“Kurenai!” Obito yelled. His shivering had only worsened, and he had come to a stop so he could hold his weight with the help of a tree next to him. “This is ridiculous! Can you tell if there’s any genjutsu around?!”

With half-lidded eyes to keep the hail out of her eyes, the woman took a deep breath. She let go. After a second, she took her hand in front of her face and formed a seal. Immediately, a weak, restrained pulse of foreign chakra trickled up their spine.

“There it is.” Straining, Obito steadied himself and nodded at Kurenai, who nodded back.

They set for the north, following the waning but rhythmic beat of energy to higher up the mountain as fast as their lags would take them, and finally zeroed on a spot. It was well-hidden, but noticeable by the protection it offered from the cold.

“Kakashi?!”

There was a pause, then a more urgent, stronger beat that fell out of rhythm that allowed them to pinpoint an exact location in the clearing. The Uchiha knelt next to it, and shakily began to dig into the snow. Kurenai was not far behind, and with stronger, more precise strokes, began to work next to the man.

Kakashi was buried and lost under a whole foot of snow and ice and rock. It proved difficult to dig him out completely, with Obito’s teeth clattering and muscles turned to dust. Kakashi was no help, either. He alternated between unconscious and barely awake enough to groan, clearly not able to move, with or without help.

The icy powder that should have been white was red at the level of Kakashi’s abdomen, and though both Kurenai and Obito doubled their efforts after noticing, it was her that ended up hauling the ANBU up by his jacket and laying him down to tend to his injury as quickly as she could. She stitched and dressed the wound properly before Obito pulled a warm, fuzzy blanket from his backpack and threw it over his friend’s shoulders.

“You, mister, got defeated by snow.” Obito told the other man. He held Kakashi close despite the jab, because Rin’s death would forever be too fresh in his mind for him not to be scared shitless at the thought of losing his best friend as well.

Kakashi’s laughter was almost unrecognizable in its roughness, and Obito cringed. He almost never heard him outright laughing, but the once or twice he did, the odd, wheezing sound had been almost funny. Now it transformed into a severe cough that made Kurenai wince and put her hands on his shoulders.

But Kakashi was safe now, if not out of the woods just yet. There was still a chance of the injury getting infected, not to mention the level of chakra depletion he was suffering from.

“Were you sending that chakra signal since you got lost?”

It was a rhetorical question that Kakashi failed to answer. He just crumpled over Obito, head buried in his friend’s shoulder.

“We need to get him to a hospital quickly.” Obito said to the chuunin, adjusting his grip so Kakashi’s head lolled against his neck.

“You both need a hospital, if you ask me,” Kurenai said under her breath, and they were hidden enough from the storm that Obito could hear her. He nodded in agreement, giving her a pained smile.

“Can you carry him back to the village? I… I can’t do it while I’m like this. And I’d rather not have those three even get close if I can help it.”

Kurenai looked at him, then nodded. Obito watched in amazement as the chuunin hoisted a man a solid twenty-eight pounds heavier than herself onto her back before standing up, holding him in place like he weighted nothing.

**{…}**

Kakashi opened his eyes to a very different scene of white almost two weeks later. Obito was on the bed next to his, oxygen mask pulled down to his neck like a collar while he slurped a bowl of food with too much enthusiasm for someone that sickly-looking.

He tapped the railing on his bed, the back of his brain asking why his bed even had a railing in the first place.

Obito turned to him and grinned. “Yo! You’ve been out cold for _days_!”  He paused, then said, “Naruto insisted the nurse do that so you didn’t fall of. He’s taking after sensei even at four, huh?” Kakashi quickly realized he was pointing at the railing he had just been questioning the existence of.

Instead of replying Kakashi raised his hands, and struggled to make the signs he needed. He failed miserably and let his arms fall into his lap like lead.

“Your team is fine.” Obito said, even though Kakashi hadn’t managed to ask. “They gave up your search and called us instead, though.” he confessed, sighing. “I swear, _I’m_ choosing your teammates from now on. May I suggest Yuuhi Kurenai? Fucking carried your sorry ass all the way back here.” Pause. “Honestly, I think she carried the both of us at one point. She’s freaking badass.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want in on a little easter egg, you should re-read chapter 17. A character came back.


	22. O ultimo raio de sol

**O ultimo raio de sol**  
_Twenty-nine years old_

Obito pulled Kakashi flush to himself, burying his face in Kakashi’s neck and breathing him in. His fingers quivered and ached, but he wouldn’t let go. A medic-nin tried to pry him away, and Obito almost bit his hand off. He would have, but Sakura—cutesy pink little Sakura who had grown to be a mighty warrior—quickly intervened, pressing a strong, delicate hand to the medic’s chest and pushing him away.

The chaos around them raged in cries of despair and sorrow, and Obito only clutched Kakashi tighter. He had seen it. Kakashi had been dead. _Dead_ **dead _dead._** Helpless and buried under a shower of rocks and a needle stuck through his head. And Obito had been saved only because Kakashi had pushed him out of the way.

But now he could feel his friend breathing into his shoulder, the unsteady rise and fall of his chest that spoke of life but not safety. And he knew, rationally, that he should let the medics do their work. But Kakashi had been dead, and it was his fault, and losing him had been worse than losing any other person in the last thirteen years.

Worse even than losing his family.

“Obito,” And shit that was Tsunade and he was going to get yelled at but he still couldn’t bring himself to _let go_. “If you can carry him, come with me. If not, step aside _now_.”

He looked up, and saw the tears shining in her eyes, the weariness of her body as she shivered in exhaustion. Her face remained the picture of strength, features carefully schooled in a neutral expression. He nodded, knowing that he couldn’t carry this man if he wasn’t in top-notch condition, and, though he growled at the medic that got close again, Obito passed his friend over to the village leader.

Sakura had her hands on his shoulders, now. And Sasuke was somewhere around as well, familiar chakra signature reaching out to him and washing some comfort over him, though he kept physical contact to a minimum. Naruto was in front of him suddenly, as was Tenzou; both looking torn between talking to him and running over to where Kakashi was being treated.

He couldn’t hear them over his own surge of panic. Dead ,dead, dead. But Naruto looked at Sakura and then at Sasuke, and finally he replaced the kunoichi, hands of wiry muscle holding him up as Sakura rushed over to aid Tsunade.

“Obito-nii,” Naruto said to him, and Obito thought he sounded a bit too panicked to help him. “You’re bleeding, let them help.”

Obito was barely aware of the way Sasuke took one of his arms as Naruto helped with the other, and together they hoisted him over to an impromptu medical tent where they left him with the instruction to stay and left to help in the battlefield.

“Uchiha-san,” A voice over his head called, “Uchiha-san?”

Dead, dead, dead.

Kakashi dead along with Rin and Sensei and his uncles and cousins and neices. And blood, so much blood. The bodies were so cold. Empty eyes staring at him shallowly and wouldn’t _close_. Where was Sasuke? He needed to see his nephew, yearned to see Naruto, because he could be dead, too, and _where were they?_

“He’s hyperventilating. Fujimoto, come help me here.”

Dead, dead, dead, _dead_.

Then a flush of foreign chakra, and Obito knew no more.

**{…}**

His arm was wrapped around something sturdy, but Obito felt too groggy to really care.

“Ah, he’s awake!” The voice was familiar, and whatever he was holding wriggled to try and get out from under his arm, to no avail. “Obito-nii, you’re not letting Sasuke breathe. Oh! Did you know you have white chakra mixed with yours? Freaky weird.”

Obito grinned despite himself, though it was lopsided with pain and sleep, and pressed Sasuke even further into the mattress with his elbow.

After a short struggle, Sasuke finally freed himself from the hold and looked disgruntled at his uncle. Obito noticed Sakura flustering over the bed next to his, throwing glances back at the rest of the group and smiling in reassurance every time either of the boys looked back at her.

“Obito-sensei,” Sakura finally said to him minutes later, smile the epitome of relief. “Kakashi-sensei explained about your chakra. Don’t worry, you’ll feel better now.”

He was still pretty much out of it, but Obito smiled drunkenly at her and nodded, not quite understanding why his chakra was still news to his own team, brain not registering that all his records had been destroyed in the Kyuubi attack, then again at the hands of Pein. There was a lingering feeling of dread in his chest and his breathing quickened as the name clicked back into his mind until Sakura tried to shush him.

“Kakashi?!” He yelled, sitting up in his bed though the room tilted dangerously to the side. An empty plastic cup bounced on his head and he turned to see Kakashi glaring at him from the corner of his eye.

Despite the wave of nausea that overtook him, Obito shot from his bed and tumbled over until Kakashi was wrapped in his arms. The other man stiffened, and Obito tightened his hold. He couldn’t see Kakashi’s face, but the awkward pat on his head was enough to reassure him that no, Kakashi was not dead. He was here and he was pulling out of his (very manly—not) hug.

“Oi, Uchiha! Stop bothering the other patients!”

Obito grinned and held Kakashi at arm’s length, then frowned and pointed his index finger to his nose.

“If you ever die on me again, so help me, Bakakashi, I’m bringing you back just to kill you myself.”


	23. Summer Still Goes On

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like how this chapter starts, but I hate how it ends. Still, you deserved something after so long, so I finished this chapter. Hopefully you'll like it regardless.

**Summer Still Goes On  
** _ Twenty-two years old _

Naruto grins up at Obito and shoves a plastic bag into his face. The man has been sick all month, but today he was okay enough to get up from his hospital bed (it’s _his_ , too, he craved his name in the headrest years ago and no one has painted over it yet) and walk around a bit.

“They’re for you and Kakashi-nii to use on missions!”

Sasuke scowls at the way Obito smiles at the younger boy and looks down to his hands, muttering darkly and glaring at Naruto. Obito takes out one of the brightest origami shuriken, and admires the horrific clash of orange and green like he has never laid eyes on anything more magnificent.

“He did that instead of working.” Sasuke says to his uncle through gritted teeth, then turns toward the blond “That’s why you’re still stupid.”

Naruto’s expression sours that very second, and he turns to retaliate until Obito puts away his bagful of paper projectile weapons and leans in-between the two boys. He’s not the one who quells the fights. No, in fact he’s usually the one who incites them and tips the two children against each other. But today, Kakashi is on a mission and it looks like there’s a storm brewing outside and he doesn’t want Naruto walking around sopping wet, so he can’t have them fighting—mostly because Kakashi will make sure his next visit to the hospital is permanent if he allows that.

He doesn’t even need to say anything. He just pretends to groan a bit dramatically and Sasuke and Naruto forget all about their little scuffle, talking over each other to ask if he’s okay and Naruto even offers to go call the pretty medic-nin that is usually doing rounds at that hour.

Obito denies them both, insisting that he’s fine but remaining on the bed as they both clamber over the railing Naruto insists on putting up every time he comes by (which is every day because he follows Sasuke like a leech), and sit over his legs, looking for any more symptoms.

Sasuke is looking sluggish again, and Obito really wonders how he manages at the Academy. Lately, the only times he seems even a little bit alive are when he’s yelling or snapping at Naruto. Then again, maybe he’s not managing all that well and that Iruka guy is just too scared of him to come tell him his nephew has stopped eating his lunch and is not paying attention in class. Naruto notices too, and inches back a little so Obito can grab Sasuke and pull him up to his chest, holding him with one arm.

“Okay, you two. You know what day it is today?” He feels Sasuke shake his head against him, and Naruto gazes confusedly around him for a calendar of some sort. Obito uses his free hand to grab his head. “Today’s September the 13th.” He says, “Which means that two days from now, Kakashi will be twenty-two.”

Naruto gasps “That’s _old_!”

Obito chuckles, but guesses that’s what it’d sound like to a six-year-old. Sasuke is not so amused, and he glares at Obito’s shirt as he says “Obito’s twenty-four.”

If anything, Naruto’s gasp is even louder this time, and the little blond leans forward and reaches over Sasuke to grab Obito’s face between his tiny hands. “But-but you don’t look old, Obito-nii!” he pauses as he considers this, then, “Does Kashi-nii look old?”

“Nah, not at all.” Obito says, even though he has told the younger man he looks older than the grumpy retired guy who yells at them from his window sometimes. “Don’t tell him I said that, though. Anyway!”

Naruto shuts his mouth and releases the man’s cheeks.

“Wanna plan a surprise party for him? Naruto can help deciding what we’ll eat and Sasuke can buy all the balloons!”

Naruto nods and Sasuke frowns.

“No. I’m _not_ going to go buy balloons.”

**{…}**

After Sasuke pays for the balloons, he wanders back to Obito’s hospital room and climbs up on the chair Naruto is not currently hogging with takeout menus. His uncle looks tired. The machines wired to Obito’s arm tell him nothing, but even Sasuke can see that he’s breathing too shallow, and his eyelids are drooping more and more by the second.

Obito looks happy with Naruto, though, and Sasuke reasons he should get out and not interrupt. He knows he’s been violent lately, and Naruto’s eye proved that earlier today, though it doesn’t anymore.

But Sasuke is angry. Angry at his brother, at his parents. Angry at Obito who looks at him like he needs help, and angry at Kakashi and Naruto who both act like nothing happened. Sasuke is angry and he takes it out on sparring matches and on Naruto because he’s an idiot and everyone yells at him anyway. That is, everyone except Obito and Kakashi.

Sasuke is angry and tired, and it’s very obvious Obito would rather be with Naruto than spend time with him.

He leaves the bag of decorations in his chair and gets up, ignoring his uncle’s calls as he leaves the hospital. He knows Obito cannot follow just yet, wouldn’t make it more than one floor down before throwing up or his legs giving out under him.

The next morning, he has regretted walking out on the man so badly that he wants to cry or punch something, and ultimately crawls back on proverbial hands and knees, preparing an apology that he knows won’t be enough to excuse himself.

A nurse stops him before he can go into Obito’s room, but she seems to recognize him because she’s gentle as she explains that his uncle tried to leave the hospital, then worked himself into a panic when the thunderstorm started, and now he can’t get any visitors.

Naruto comes out of nowhere just then, smiling and thanking the nurse for the cup on instant ramen he’s holding. Sasuke remembers she’s just a nice nurse, and maybe she doesn’t really recognize him at all.

“Sasuke! We have to tell Kashi-nii’s friends to come over tomorrow! And then— _oh_ ,” Naruto falters, blinks and then looks up at the medic-nin. “I forgot our decorations in there! Can I please get them?”

She says no, but goes in instead and brings back the bag of balloons, takeout menus, and paper shuriken and gives everything to Naruto. The little blond turns to Sasuke; his arms full of colorful decorations, and dumps everything on him.

“Go to your house and blow up the balloons, okay?! I’m gonna go get ‘Kashi-nii’s friends to come tomorrow and—”

“Here?” Sasuke’s voice cuts over Naruto’s. He sounds tired and even angrier than the night before, but the little blond doesn’t seem to notice. “Why would we do a party here?”

Naruto stares at Sasuke, his eyes growing really big as he realizes his mistake. “Don’t worry!”

“Wha—”

“It’s okay. Just go and blow up the balloons. I’ll get it to work, believe it!”

And with that Naruto is gone in a small flash of yellow and dark blue. Naruto is wearing his old jacket, Sasuke’s brain proposes suddenly. The one that he kept staring at because it had a secret pocket on the inside. He’s not sure if he likes it, but Sasuke admits to himself that the hoodie was not big enough for him to wear anymore, and he manages to leave it at that.

Sasuke is also not sure when Naruto started ordering him around. Worse still, he’s not even sure why he’s obeying at all, but he still rearranges the things Naruto gave him and heads home, looking back at Obito’s door with deep regret and shame before the entire room disappears from sight as he moves down the stairs.

**{…}**

Naruto lies on the floor of Sasuke’s living room surrounded by colorful balloons. He’s not sure if Kakashi even likes balloons. But that’s what you get at a party. That’s at least when he got on his last birthday. He also bought cake. Just the same, he’s not sure if the birthday bo—man likes cake, but the owner of the store gave it to him after she saw the Uchiwa on his back and asked who the party was for.

Sasuke is writing the signs they’re going to hang on the walls, mostly because Naruto’s handwriting is impossible to read. Sasuke looks sour among all the cheery decorations, and his eyes are glassy like he’s about to cry but Naruto tried to ask and he got pushed out of the couch for his concern, so now the two are just letting each other be. Naruto would leave because everything is almost ready, but it’s raining outside and he heard thunder rumble like five minutes ago, so he’s staying put, thank you very much.

Suddenly, Naruto shoots up, balloons of green, blue, and pink flying everywhere. The blond’s overdramatic gasp startles Sasuke out of his calligraphy.

“What?” The taller boy demands.

Naruto flails his arms until Sasuke is forced to put his marker down lest Naruto stabs himself with it or something.

“ _What?_ ” Sasuke repeats with more force.

“We forgot Kashi-nii’s present!”

Naruto surges forward and opens the front door when another bolt of lightning breaks the sky, and the boy halts and turns to his friend with big eyes.

“We can get it tomorrow.”

Naruto doesn’t even nod, he just slams the door closed and goes to huddle under a blanket while Sasuke finishes the posters before jumping out of his cocoon and helping him hang them up.

**{…}**

On September the 15th, Hatake Kakashi wakes up with a bad feeling on the pit of his stomach. He gets up warily and has a breakfast of leftovers with tense shoulders. There’s clearly something wrong here, because for the first time in forever he came back from a mission without a scratch on him and yet he can’t shake off the atmosphere of imminent doom that hangs over him like a drape.

So he slips on his sandals without putting his bowl away and hurries to the hospital. The receptionist waves at him happily, and that’s extremely odd because nobody waves at him, period, never mind the people at the hospital who have mostly tagged him as a menace to public health.

The hospital seems strangely quiet, and either the nurses all took the morning off or they are actively hiding from him.

Kakashi admits to himself that the latter is probably true.

He keeps going, though, wanting to get away from the eerie quiet, and only stops when he opens the door to Obito’s room and finds the bed empty. Panic claws at his chest immediately, and Kakashi hurries to look into the bathroom attached to the room.

His chakra expands from himself as he searches for the familiar warmth of Obito’s, combined with the thickness of his own. He’s nowhere in the hospital.

Kakashi is out of there in the blink of an eye, heart thundering against his chest as he almost somersaults over the reception’s counter, grabbing the secretary by the arms in a grip that will definitely hurt her even in a few days.

Big brown eyes stare back at him and his ears catch a startled gasp the poor girl bravely attempts to bite back.

“Sir?” She asks, and Kakashi realizes she must be new, must not know who he is and that’s why she waved at him; why she’s expecting a verbal response: clear by the way she takes a gentle hold of his hands.

Kakashi shakes her off, hands already moving into his personal sign for Obito before he stops, realizes what he’s doing and tries to spell out his friend’s name.

“Oh! You’re—!”

“We even warned you about him specifically, Keiko,” Another woman sighs from the side, and Kakashi looks. He doesn’t know everybody at the hospital, but this woman is a doctor who has treated him before. “Mr. Hatake, your friend and children left hours ago.” She says it like this particular event was not her decision, but she’s too used to it to care. “If he feels bad again, bring him back immediately. I’m serious.” She adds at his look of utter bafflement.

(His _children_ …?)

At least now he knows that Obito is not dead, and with that knowledge he takes the path toward the Uchiha district at a leisurely pace. The sky is cloudy, but after spending days in the Sand Village, he will take all the cool weather he can get.

The Uchiha district still looks somber. Kakashi wonders if he will ever stop seeing bodies piled on the street, blood drenching the cobblestones, or hearing the echo of conversations long-forgotten. He stops before his thoughts can get to Sasuke and the amount of pain it must cause him to live there, even though he was the one who insisted he didn’t want to leave.

When he gets to Obito’s house, the unsettling feeling returns to the pit of his stomach.

This place is never quiet; Obito is enough to cause a ruckus, and if he’s asleep, then chances are Sasuke is training or Naruto is cartwheeling around, whooping away. But now there’s no childish voice, nor can he hear the soothing, rhyhtmic _thunks_ of shuriken hitting wood.

Kakashi bursts forward in a mild panic now, opening the door, his other hand readying to tap loudly against the walls until somebody replies.

“ _SURPRISE!_ ” Kakashi actually startles at the high-pitched voices. There’s an explosion of color as small bits of paper flutter through the air.

Kakashi just stands there, staring wide-eyed at Obito, Asuma, Kurenai, and Gai. Then at Naruto and Sasuke. He begins to back away as his mind finally catches up and realizes that the nurse said ‘your children’ to refer to _these two boys_.

Obito’s hand clamps around his wrist, and Kakashi looks down to the tired eyes and sly smirk of his friend, “Oh, no, sir. You’re staying put. No disappearing into thin air this time.”

Kakashi thinks he might go into mild hysterics. Then Gai has an arm around his shoulders and he’s crying into his shoulder and Asuma’s breathing cigarette smoke into his face as Kurenai watches from a distance.

With Gai and Obito’s grip on him, Kakashi is sure his attempt to get away makes him look vaguely like a flailing fish.

“I didn’t know today was your birthday, Hatake.” Asuma claims, and blows more smoke into his face, this time clearly on purpose.

“You do always manage to turn a year older without anyone noticing.” Kurenai—the only one he thought to be nice out of this bunch of assholes—says.

He gives her a look of mild panic, mostly because he can’t manage anything else with Gai’s arms holding onto him for dear life. Kakashi is in fact surprised he could hear Kurenai at all with the green man bawling into his ear.

He tries to sign _‘are you drunk?’_ , but Naruto is climbing him like a ladder, feet digging into his hip and hands clawing at his shoulders as the boy stands to be face-to-face with him.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KASHI-NII!” The boy screams into his face. Kakashi doesn’t even know how this is happening, he didn’t even make it past the doorway. Still, he just barely manages to collect himself to sign a quick thanks, and Naruto’s face lights up like the sun, “I know what that means!” He says to everybody else, small arm hugging Kakashi’s neck for balance.

Gai finally lets go of Kakashi, choosing instead to lean against the wall for support. “My Rival! Your Naruto Has Been Doing So Well In His Lessons With You!” And then Gai cries like it’s actually something to cry about. Kakashi tries not to shudder at the thought of Naruto being his child.

Sasuke is also in the room, but sitting on the couch, pouting, arms crossed over his chest. Kakashi tries not to cringe.

Kakashi hates birthday parties. The attention, the people, the loudness—of voices and of colors—the _everything_. He figures Sasuke must be the same, and he tries to glare at Obito, who lets go of his wrist and then saunters off to pick his nephew up from the couch.

Naruto’s hand is dangerously close to the corner of his mask, and Kakashi moves his head away at the time he grabs the tiny hand, pushing it back toward the blond’s chest before he finally decides to come inside.

“Aw, come on, Kashi-nii!” Naruto whines.

Gai is still crying in the corner, and Sasuke still looks like he’d rather eat a dead rat, but Kakashi ruffles Naruto’s hair, eyeing the colorful decorations with obvious mistrust, and turns to the other shinobi, giving them his best eye-smile.

 _‘Thanks for coming.’_ He signs half-heartedly.


	24. Leaves in the Wind

**Leaves in the Wind**  
_Twenty-six years old_

 

**{Three days before Chuunin Examination}**

As Kakashi and Obito stared at the adults in front of them, they felt the overwhelming urge to run and hide.

These were a clockmaker and a baker, but they were _angry_. Sakura sat with a frown right between them. She held a piece of paper in front of her, marked with all the official signatures and seals necessary for her participation at the Chuunin Exams, and when her mother tried to take it, she shoved it under the table.

“You want her to—”

“Yep!” Obito interrupted, smiling at the girl then almost glaring at the woman.

“But...” The father started, staring confusedly at the men in front of him. “She’s only twelve.”

Which was exactly why Kakashi didn’t even know why they were there. Sakura was twelve (going on thirteen) and a genin. Which meant she was an adult. And she was smarter than the two clowns she had for teammates and were probably fighting over who got to order the food right this second.

Obito looked at the man like he had grown a second head and Kakashi had to remind himself that neither of them had any experience dealing with overbearing parents.

“Twelve is the age most children take the test to become a chuunin.” Obito stated plainly, though he looked at Kakashi with uncertainty until he nodded at the parents. “I—Uh, became a chuunin at eleven. And Kakashi-sensei,” he still sounded like he was choking every time he used that honorific on him, “passed the exam when he was six.”

Sakura’s eyes widened at the time her parents’ mouths curved downwards unhappily. The girl leaned over the table, smiling.

“Really, Kakashi-sensei!?” She clearly had never heard about this before, which was weird because Obito thought the chuunin that had taught Kakashi at the academy were still around and boasting over accomplishments not their own.

Kakashi looked at her and sort of shrugged and nodded at the same time, and Sakura beamed at him almost like she did Sasuke. Kakashi stiffened and tapped his thumb on the table uncomfortably before focusing his gaze on Sakura’s mother.

The father—who had been so excited over his daughter becoming a genin, Kakashi remembered—glared at the two of them and resolutely informed them Sakura would not be participating on the examination.

Sakura gritted her teeth, forgetting the doubts she had that afternoon, and glowered at her dad, then at her mom. “Yes, I am!” She insisted. She looked to the jounin like she was about to slam her fist on the table, but instead she kept a firm hold on the letter she had been given.

“Young lady, you will be quiet and let the adults talk!” Her mother barked as her father yelled a particularly sharp ‘no, you’re not!’ and pushed his chair away as he stood up to point a finger in his daughter’s direction.

Sakura was not far behind, and stood up also, keeping her ground and clenching her fists even though her eyes were watery already, threatening to spill tears, and her voice shook every time she retaliated to her dad’s vehement denials.

Obito grimaced as the mother also stood up, glaring daggers at the girl. They seemed to have forgotten they were there, and he looked at Kakashi, seeking for instruction.

Kakashi whistled, and Obito flinched because he knew just how much his friend hated doing that.

He began signing rapidly, almost with rage, and Obito struggled to translate when the Haruno stopped yelling at each other and looked over, the adults uncomprehensive.

“Sa—Sakura is a legal adult and does not require your permission to participate in the exams, this is merely a formality.” Obito said, keeping his eyes locked on Kakashi’s hands so as not to look at the family. “You should,” he paused for a second to look at Kakashi’s neutral expression “You should be proud of your daughter’s achievements.”

He let Kakashi give a message to Sakura without translating, and though the girl looked put out, she nodded.

Kakashi got up from his place at the table and Obito followed, both of them disappearing from sight before Sakura’s parents could say or do anything to stop them.

**{…}**

It was late when Obito heard the sob followed by strong knocking on the front door, strange since people still kept as far from the Uchiha District as possible. He looked at Kakashi, who stopped halfway in his attempt to pick up both a sleeping Naruto and a dead-to-the-world Sasuke to take them to an actual bed.

Kakashi nodded at Obito as he bent down again to lay Naruto back on the floor. Obito reluctantly got up from his comfortable position next to the coffee table and travelled the short distance to the door. There was no bad intent linked with the chakra outside, but Obito still braced himself for the onslaught that could come his way.

A projectile of red and pink slammed into his chest with such force that it drove the man back a couple of steps and made him gasp for the air that had escaped him.

“Sakura,” He said, relieved when Kakashi intervened and pulled the bawling girl away from where she was clutching at his skin through his shirt.

“Sensei,” She sniffled “I do want to be in the exams, but—but my p-parents,”

Kakashi patted her hair before she could start crying all over again, put a finger to his covered lips when the girl looked up at him. He pointed to the sleeping boys with a motion of his head, and Sakura sniffled again but then stared and quieted down.

When he regained Sakura’s attention, Kakashi shared a look with Obito and the Uchiha quickly offered her something to eat. She nodded tearfully and followed the older man to the low coffee table, where Sakura ate leftovers of their dinner while Kakashi gave up on the juggling act and picked up first Naruto and then Sasuke and carried each of them upstairs.

She openly stared as Sasuke’s head rested on Kakashi’s shoulder, almost memorized the way his face looked, relaxed in sleep.

Obito cleared his throat. “As much as I like you, kid, please don’t stare at my nephew like you’re about to eat him.”

Despite the tears drying on her cheeks, Sakura blushed furiously and trained her eyes on the food, never noticing the amused grin on the man’s face.

“You know, my sensei once tried to carry us like that, but we all got startled and woke up.” Obito whispered. Sakura looked at him, listening attentively as she always did.

He waited until Kakashi rounded the corner and sat across from them, then Obito leaned back into the sofa, grabbed a book, and leaned to the front again to pass it over to his friend.

“We’d been to war, Sakura. We were all chuunin—Well, Kakashi was a jounin—and when we were your age, there was no other path for chuunin except the battlefield.”

Obito shrugged, but it was clear he didn’t like talking about this. And Sakura looked over to her teacher instead.

‘Times are different,’ Kakashi signed, and he could see Sakura staring at his hands like anything he had to say would show her the meaning of life. A far cry from where they first met, and Kakshi didn’t really know what he liked better, sort of made him wish Obito had kept his mouth shut earlier. ‘Your parents are just worried about you.’

The girl worried her lip and looked like she was about to say something, so Obito quickly interrupted. “We know you’re very capable, Sakura, that’s why Kakashi told you to come here if you really needed us.” Both men saw the girl relax a tad, though her hand was picking at her food. “We were, ah, celebrating your team’s nomination,” he extended his arms as if to show her the food.

‘If you,’ Kakashi’s hands faltered, then pick up the pace again ‘can’t go back home, stay here tonight. The boys are both staying here until the Exams start, too. But you need to talk to your parents eventually.’

Sakura nodded. She let Obito guide her to a room upstairs once she had finished eating. There was a bag thrown on the floor, but not much else, so it was clearly a guest room. She looked around the room, then stared right at Obito who was trying to give her instructions on how things worked round the house.

“We don’t really—what?”

“Are you and Kakashi-sensei couple?”

Obito choked on his own spit, and looked at her like she had just cut open his throat. “ _No_! What even—?”

“I counted the doors!” She defended, scuffle with her parents apparently forgotten. “If Sasuke-kun and Naruto are sharing, then…!”

“Kakashi was supposed to sleep _here_ ,” Obito cried like a frustrated teenager, motioning for the entire room “That’s his overnight bag!” he pointed at the object as if it had offended his mother, then went and picked it up anyway. “Do you think Sasuke and Naruto are together just because they’re sharing a room?”

Sakura actually paused. Her eyes widened and Obito groaned “ _Don’t._ No one in this house is dating each other, okay? Just—just go to sleep, Sakura.”

He exited the room and closed the door to find his friend looking at him amusedly. “So much for the start of the Chuunin Exam.” Obito muttered.

Kakashi just smiled and shrugged his agreement.

**{Chuunin Examination-Preliminary Rounds}**

_NO_

“Aww, but why, Kakashi-sensei?”

Naruto’s whine made him want to slam his face on the wall. Outwardly, he remained the picture of cold, aloof stoicism.

Kakashi wanted to just sign angrily at him, or maybe choke him, but a dead student would be of no use and they didn’t have much time anyway. Besides, Naruto still had trouble with sign language and he really, really needed to get his point across.

Sakura was somewhere near the railing rolling her eyes and muttering about Naruto being a baby, only to snap her mouth shut when Kurenai shot her a glance that was all non-too friendly. Kakashi felt relief when she nodded at him, moving to rest her hand around the young Aburame’s neck and let her arm hook around the Hyuuga girl’s shoulders as they looked as Nara Shikamaru lazily made his way up the stairs again, never mind that the next match had already been announced.

Kakashi then pulled out his ever-present notepad and wrote down a message as Naruto clung to his shoulder and begged. He shoved the piece of paper into his student’s face and forced his hands away from his jacket.

_‘You’re not going after a dog. The referees want to see how you fight against the **boy**.’ _

He had underlined the word _boy_ only about five times and used all-caps but, hell, Naruto could be thick when he wanted.

“But Kakashi-nii!” Kakashi rolled his eyes as Naruto reverted to his more childish form of address and firmly pointed at the field, where Hayate was being a little bitch and motioning for Kakashi to hurry it up by looking at his wrist impatiently.

_You can do it, but don’t be stupid._

Kakashi slipped that last piece of paper as Naruto finally jumped down and took his place in front of the feral-looking Inuzuka boy. Naruto looked over before taking his position, and Kakashi smiled at him to try and reassure him.

Judging by the half pout-half frown he got, he was really bad at motivation.

**{Chuunin Examinations-One week before Final Rounds}**

The deep rumble of Obito’s laughter bounced on the walls of his apartment, and Kakashi could only sigh to himself and look up, because Obito was not supposed to even be there.

He regretted it immediately, because in front of him was not only Obito, but also Sasuke… dressed in some sort of… black one-piece outfit that reminded him vaguely of rivalry and youth and archaic flowery expressions.

“Did you—” More laughter as Obito let go of Sasuke’s shoulder and came crashing next to him on the couch. “Did you tehehehehell him to wear that?” Obito dissolved in cackles at this point, upper body seemingly losing strength as he flopped down over the rest of the couch.

Kakashi merely looked over at the boy and raised an eyebrow, though a small, hidden smile began to tug at his lips as he saw Sasuke blush in anger, crossing his arms over his chest like an overgrown version of a toddler.

“It’s not—!”

“It’s a onesie!” Obito guffawed, grabbing Kakashi’s sleeve and tugging at it so he would turn to look at him. Kakashi did, though he stepped away before the other man could try and hug him in hysterical mirth. “He—hahahahahaha—he wants to wear it to his fight at the Chuunin Exams.”

Sasuke growled and twisted the bunch of bandages he was holding. He looked at Kakashi for support, but the man had dipped his head, hand covering the part of his face the mask didn’t. He wasn’t moving, so Sasuke didn’t know if he was laughing or just really disappointed.

“It’s not a onesie and you can’t tell me what to wear.”  He turned in his heel to get out of the room, but a strong hand grabbed him and pulled him back.

Obito was still trying to sober up, his laughter muffled from where his face was pressed against the upholstery. Kakashi signed at him, not leaning or kneeling down to his height because Kakashi never did, unlike his uncle.

_You look like Gai-sensei._

Sasuke froze, looked down at himself with a frown and then back at his teacher. Kakashi shrugged.

“You both have something like this too.” But the anger in Sasuke’s voice had receded, and a tinge of confusion colored it instead. “I saw. They wouldn’t fit you now, but—”

Kakashi held up a hand as he remembered those horrific outfits and wondered why Obito kept them. Not only his own, but _Kakashi’s_ as well.

He made sure the boy was paying attention and not only glaring, and signed. _Mission. Circus artists._

Sasuke bristled, looking positively aghast, and almost flew to the bathroom.

Kakashi didn’t know what the boy thought he could accomplish in there, but didn’t doubt for a second that Sasuke would rather go naked than keep wearing clothes that would make him look like a Gai about to perform on areal silk.

He took a deep breath and congratulated himself on averting one crisis.


	25. Violent Colors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at the bottom for trigger warnings

****Violent Colors**  
** _ Twenty-two years old _

Kakashi outlives every single person in his first ANBU unit. And the second, and the third. The fourth, they’re not entirely sure, because nobody knows what exactly happened to Itachi. The council still thinks Sasuke has answers, and they constantly pressure and push and shove to question him. But Sasuke is young, still, too young to be subjected to any sort of questioning. And Obito fights with nails and teeth until they recede. Then Kakashi—and Asuma and Kurenai and Gai—step up when Obito is too weak, too delicate to defend the boy because fighting for his own life keeps him so incapacitated.

In any case, Kakashi outlives any new recruit to the point that he stops caring if people see him carrying his Black Ops cloak, and sometimes he forgets to untie his mask from his pouch after he changes out of his uniform. Asuma once saw him with his cloak folded over his arm and told him to please stop carrying his death veil around. People stare, and the Hokage reprimands him.

Kakashi doesn’t really understand. His hair is not something that could be easily be confused to be someone else’s. So he knows people are aware that it’s him—the Hatake boy (man, now)— behind the Wolf mask anyway. No, Kakashi doesn’t understand what the problem is, and he’s too tired, too weary, to try.

Kakashi is twenty when the Hokage tells him to take it easy. To take a break, of sorts. And he is assigned missions close to the village, sentry duty around and inside the walls. Kakashi is a day younger than twenty-two when Sarutobi sits him down, makes him do some math, and, after Kakashi figures he’s beaten every odd of him surviving in the field by almost three years, informs him he is to be retired from active duty.

When the younger man raises his hands to protest, the Hokage lifts his own and silences him without a word. To Kakashi, Sarutobi Hiruzen has never looked older, more defeated, than in that moment. This man who dealt with his student’s betrayal with a grim expression but soldiered on knows what ANBU means to him, the escape it offers from knowing he killed one of his teammates, the pain he has put the other one through.

“The elders believe you are too much of a… burden on your teammates.” _That’s why you survive and they perish._ The Hokage doesn’t say it, and he clearly doesn’t believe it himself, but Kakashi still hears it loud and clear. He has heard it his whole life. “I believe, however, that you would be a very good… mentor… for the next generation.”

Kakashi reels back, grabs the underside of the chair with tense fingertips, and shakes his head.

But the Hokage is patient. He explains the need they have for capable jounin, reassures him when Kakashi hands tumble over words to the point that he can just touch his forehead with the fingers of his right hand and then bring it forward, palm facing himself, thumb and pinky extended. _‘WHY?’_

The Hokage stops replying. He rests a wrinkled hand on Kakashi’s shoulder and unties the Wolf mask in his place. He gives it to Kakashi, even though he’s supposed to burn it along with all evidence he was ever there in the first place. Even after Kakashi secures the mask around his waist and the older man presses a thick folder into his hands, the Hokage says nothing.

When he goes home, Kakashi stares at himself in the mirror. His armor is tinged a permanent shade of maroon even though it is his newest one. He lowers his facemask, but he has scars there. Old ones that a sick, perverted man put on him when he couldn’t tell him what a magnificent partner he had been. They widen his mouth gruesomely, and jag at the corners of his lips where they join matching ones on the inside of his cheeks.

He remembers not being able to eat solid foods for weeks after, until the wounds were completely healed. He remembers people yelling at the Elders because a mission at a whorehouse was not supposed to be assigned to a child of ten.

He puts the facemask back up and sleeps with it on for the night, even though it makes it a little harder to breathe.

There’s a birthday party the next day, and Kakashi pretends to smile if just to please his friends and the small kids they herded along. He still hasn’t opened the folder.

He opens it the day after that, though, because he knows he has to and he had just finished hiding his armor and uniform in a box that he never wants to open again, now.

There’re names in there. Three names belonging to three children, along with three matching pictures, one for each child. There’s also a note from the Hokage telling him where to meet them at a date set a month from then.

**{…}**

He gives up on them—Matsuno Eiji, Mukai Akira, Nakahara Kei—the second Obito explains to them why he’s there. They pull faces at him, refuse to cooperate with his beginning introduction exercise, and they don’t even do it together. They argue among themselves so loudly that even Obito flinches and looks back at him. Kakashi doesn’t really want to give them another chance, but he figures the Hokage gave him these kids for a reason, and nods when Obito asks him if they should tell the kids to even meet them tomorrow.

Of course, the bell test is a disaster waiting to happen, and when they scream and accuse him of not being a real ninja, he is not even in the mood to correct them.

The report to the Hokage explains nothing, just gives the team a failing grade. There’s not even a recommendation not to let them participate in the promotion exam again. He just wants the whole thing to be over and done.

Kakashi feels like an incompetent fool, but Hiruzen just smiles sadly and gives him a mission folder, with a warning that he’s still in the jounin instructor roster for the batch of children that will graduate in half a year.

**{…}**

Obito worsens dramatically the day before he’s supposed to meet his new prospective team. Kakashi comes to the Uchiha complex to find the older man passed out, chakra signature waning dangerously. White chakra is highly condensed energy that eats at everything that it touches, and it almost snuffles out Obito’s own, reacting like it was a parasite to the poor man’s body. In theory, it was supposed to work for protection, but the mix of chakras is bad, and Obito’s body is not prepared for it.

Naruto is also ill—he’s honestly what the medics think made Obito’s reaction so particularly violent this time around—, needs bedrest, though he doesn’t require any urgent medical attention, and the doctors refuse to let him stay at the hospital, so Kakashi is tasked with hauling the feverish boy around to meet the academy grads because the Hokage says there is no way to reschedule.

Kakashi is not sure why the Kyuubi’s chakra is not healing Naruto, since it usually does the job with cuts, bruises, and scrapes. Still the boy is sick, and he can hardly give little Sasuke a couple of coins to take care of him for half an hour, not with his uncle in such dire condition.

So haul him to meet his team Kakashi does.

The make-believe genin stare at him when he comes into the classroom holding a sick seven-year-old, and he supposes he can’t really blame them. They ask him if he’s a dad, and Kakashi shakes his head. He sees the girl of the team recognize the little blond then, and she backs up with a frown. He shows them pre-written messages in his notepad that tell the children they should meet him at the roof, and then disappears.

By the time they do meet him, Naruto’s sweat has seeped through his shirt, and Kakashi’s sure there’s drool and probably snot on his shoulder, but there’s no outward indication of how much that disgusts him. The teens all look at the little boy with aversion, clearly having shared the fact of just who Naruto is, and they all look confused when Kakashi keeps giving them instructions on pieces of paper.

“Are you the disabled jounin my dad told me about?” The bravest, or the most stupid, of the boys asks, and Kakashi doesn’t really want to nod, but does because yes, he’s disabled, and he’s still better than this brat’s father, he’s sure.

Still, Kakashi meets them the next day. He had wanted to dump Naruto on Kurenai. Hell, he would’ve been okay with Gai, but they’re both busy and so he has to lay a sleeping, scarily silent Naruto down on the grass to show the rest of the children what it was he wanted them to do.

For genin, they’re average at best. He can feel the smaller of the boys somewhere on the other side of the river, the taller one is nothing short of a beacon in the bush right in front of him, and the girl manages to disappear okay. She moves fast, too, because there’s a tinge of her chakra on one tree and then it all but scurries off to the bush, next to Beacon-Boy, and then there’s a flash of black and she’s near Brat on the other side of the river.

They actually move together, and for that, Kakashi is pleased. He can deal with some rudeness, and he considers they might be smart enough to accept Naruto once he explains to them that their parents’ hate is unfounded and ridiculous.

But then, when he’s distracted by the boys actually synching their attacks, he feels something is wrong, and ANBU training takes over as he disappears on the boys and body-slams into Murakami Aiko as she tries to reach Naruto with her kunai.

The girl is hurt—really hurt. She’s not very big, and she’s only twelve to Kakashi’s lean but heavy muscles and twenty-two years. Plus he might have coated his arm in chakra when he gave in to instinct. He can see right away from the way she writhes that her ribs are broken. But he still bends, grabs her, and pulls her up until her feet are not touching the ground.

Kakashi has seen the way Obito hisses threats. He knows it’s effective. He can’t do that, so he angles himself so the boys can’t see him and lowers his mask, showing the terrified girl his scars and looking at her, releasing killing intent before dropping her and placing his mask back in place.

Naruto is picked up by shivering, adrenaline-pumped arms. The little boy feels it, but unlike most would do, he snuggles even further in Kakashi’s embrace, and the man breathes. The teen boys are trying to help their teammate, and when they see him, he gives the team a thumbs-down and disappears in a whirlwind of leaves.

That night, he slams his report of a failing team on the Hokage’s desk, this time with a full description of the events, and a recommendation (supported by half the jounin population) of never letting Murakami Aiko become a genin. He can’t know if the boys were in on the plan, but this girl is dangerous if she was ready to hurt a fellow, defenseless villager just to advance in the ranks.

Kakashi is still holding Naruto, who is only slightly more lucid than he was when Kakashi thought the fever might melt the boy from the inside out.

Sarutobi actually volunteers to take care of Naruto for the night, but Kakashi just shakes his head and stays the night at Obito’s hospital room, where Sasuke is still being an angry ball of unbridled rage but has stopped looking like an underfed zombie. He puts Naruto down to share the empty bed with a grumbling Sasuke, checks up on Obito, and places his own chair by the door to keep any unwanted visitors out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: (Vague) Mentions of sexual assault


	26. Sick Sun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check the tags for warnings of this chapter.

**Sick Sun** _  
Ten years old _

It is an old ritual for Minato and Kushina to treat their little gaggle of children when they return from a mission. In and of itself, it’s a simple routine: give the Hokage their report, race to Kakashi’s apartment, and invite him to come have lunch or dinner with them. When the boy shakes his head no, Kushina picks him up over her shoulder and takes him with them anyway. On the way, they pick up Obito, who is always excitedly bouncing on the balls of his feet and agrees to come with before they even get the question out. Rin is the only one who gets a break. She joins them most of the time, but there other times when she insists she needs to go with some of the other kunoichi of her academy class, and though Minato doesn’t really understand, he nods and smiles and lets her go. If only because he can already feel Kushina’s intent to punch him if he tries to stop the little girl.

This time, their routine is broken.

Minato and Kushina return from an A-ranked mission to find Kakashi gone.

Lord Sarutobi hadn’t said anything, but they remind themselves that their boy is a chuunin, and perfectly capable to go out on missions without Minato’s express permission. Instead, they head over to the Uchiha district, continuing their race across the village. This time, Kushina wins, and Minato stands there in front of the door of Obito’s house, smiling as his wife raises her arms and grins in triumph. Then rolls his eyes when she calls him a snail.

Minato knocks pointedly on the door when Kushina suggests they should just break in and scare him, then grabs her arm when she goes to do just that. Obito is half asleep when he opens the door, but he smiles when he sees them.

“Are we going to go get lunch?”

But the boy plops down to the floor to put his sandals on without waiting for a reply and Minato smiles and ruffles his student’s hair.

“Sure.”

“Hell yeah, we are!” Kushina screams at the same time, hooking her arm around Obito’s neck and pulling his head under her armpit. She pauses and lets him go, and the boy stares back at her because he was fully prepared for a noogie. “You’re… taller.”

And he is. Obito goes up to her chin now, the sleeves of his jacket stop right above his wrist bone. And the boy grins, crossing his arms over his chest and puffing out like a proud peacock showing off his feathers.

“I’mna leave Kakashi behind, you know! Asuma said.”

Kushina snorts, bending down at the waist to be on Obito’s eye-level. She pulls her hand like she was measuring him, eyebrow raised and smile lopsided in clear intent of mockery.

“Kashi’s tiny, ya know? It’s not such a big accomplishment”. She lowers her hand to where Kakashi’s head should be, only a bit under Obito’s lip.

“But—”

“I think he’s coming along fine, Kushina, all things considered.” Minato quickly placates pressing his forearm firmly against Kushina’s collarbone until she backs off, pulling herself back to her full height.

“Yeah, see?!”

Before Kushina can start fighting again, Minato clears his throat and his student is suddenly in training-mode. He stands up straight, smiling but giving the man his full attention.

“Obito, you know if Kakashi went on a mission? He wasn’t in his apartment.” Kushina is pushing them out of the Uchiha district by the time Minato finishes his question.

Obito blinks owlishly “Wh—he hasn’t been training in two weeks, sensei.”

Kushina freezes immediately, and Minato can feel her fingers dig into his shoulder through the flak jacket. Minato’s reaction is not quite so sudden. Kakashi never misses training, but if the mission was urgent it is entirely possible—

But, no.

Kakashi never leaves without saying something. The Hokage had one rule for a chuunin so young, and that is that he had to at least leave a note to warn them if he ever had to go by himself and there was no one available for him to tell in person.

“Hey, Obito?” Kushina starts, sharing a look with her husband. “Why don’t you go get Rin? We’ll… catch up.” She kisses his forehead and runs off back in the direction of Kakashi’s apartment, and Minato quickly reinforces her suggestion as an order and follows after her.

The building Kakashi calls home is run down; the wood of the floor probably rotten, if the dark black color is anything to go by. The walls all look like a mild wind could tear them apart, but the door to Kakashi’s apartment is surprisingly sturdy and covered in traps that take Minato a while to disarm. He’s oddly proud that Kakashi’s traps are giving him a hard time to check on his student.

Kushina and Minato separate without a word, each taking a half of the tiny apartment. Minato checks the counters and the kitchen table, then works on the cupboards because this is Kakashi and this could be his idea of an offset stealth training. There’s no note, and Kushina comes out of the bathroom a little wild-eyed but equally empty-handed.

Unsure of what to do next, Minato goes to the landlord while Kushina takes on the task of telling Obito and Rin they’ll make up for the lunch some other time.

“I haven’t seen him, young man.” The landlord says when Minato asks. “But then, I never really see him, you must be a very good teacher.” She pats his cheek (Minato is not entirely sure how she does that, the woman is _tiny_ ) and gives a little laugh before retiring inside her room before he can ask anything else.

His next step is to look for Kakashi around the village. He visits several more trainings grounds, but all that earns him is a boy shouting at him about the Springtime of Youth (He can hear those capital letters, too), and how Kakashi’s Most Esteemed Teacher must be overflowing with Energy of Blossoms. Or something, he kind of tuned him out after a bit. He clearly knows Kakashi, though, so he waves at the boy’s jounin instructor and kneels down in front of the boy, holding his shoulders.

“What’s your name?” He asks.

“I Am MAITO GAI!” He shouts his name harder than any other words. “I will be the Green Beast of Konoha!” He smiles with teeth that are much too bright. Minato doesn’t think he wants to know. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees his fellow jounin’s shoulders sag. Minato’s shoulders would sag like that, too, if he had to deal with Gai for an extended period of time, or even five minutes.

“Right. Listen, Gai, have you seen Kakashi?”

That throws the boy in for a loop, and doesn’t reply for several moments. “No! My Eternal Rival Has Not Made An Appearance Before Me In Weeks!” The boy pauses, and Minato wonders if he needs a second to catch his breath. “HE MUST BE PLANING OUT OUR NEXT CHALLENGE!”

Minato really, really doubts that he is, but he nods, and disappears.

He meets Kushina near the stream that leads to the academy.

“Anything?” Minato’s chest already feels like it’s being gripped too tightly, and the sensation only grows when Kushina shakes her head.

“None of the shop owners have seen him. You don’t think he’d just forget about the note, right?”

She knows the answer, Minato knows she does, but he shakes his head anyway.

They practically barrel through the academy halls and burst through the doors that lead to the Mission Assignment Desk. Most of the jounin there move aside for them, pulling their herds of genin along with them. The ones that are too bold to move or otherwise too preoccupied to do so and shoved aside as the pair attempts to get to the chuunin in charge.

“You!” Kushina screams, leaning over the desk and pulling one of the women by her collar. “Where’s Kakashi!”

It doesn’t sound like a question because it isn’t one, Minato has known Kushina long enough to understand when she’s demanding something.

“I—I don’t…”

“You mean the deaf brat? Hatake?”

As panicked as he is, Minato has to struggle not to punch the man. Kushina is gritting her teeth, and she points a threatening finger at him.

“He’s not a brat, and he can hear you perfectly fine.” Kushina’s chakra flares, even though she is, amazingly, trying to reel it in. “Now where is he, you good for nothing bigot?”

The man, though stupid, clearly has some sort of self-preservation instincts to his name, and he shakes his head, saying that their boy has not been assigned any official mission in the month they’ve been away.

Kushina growls, and next thing Minato knows, they’re in the Hokage Tower, Sarutobi watching them expectantly.

“Did you give Kakashi a mission, old man?” Kushina asks and Minato can only stand there and sigh.

The Hokage acts like that blatant disrespect is normal. Honestly, from Kushina, it _kind_ of is. “No. Why?”

“He’s _nowhere_ to be found.” Minato informs him.

The man looks disbelieving for a second, then both jounin feel a sudden wave of chakra, and the Hokage frowns and starts searching around his office. Minato and Kushina, who don’t know what he’s looking for, just stand and watch.

The Hokage halts at one of the small tables furthest away from his desk. The drawer is not halfway closed, and Sarutobi opens it completely. He sees the lone folder inside, and his shoulders slump as he reaches for it. He opens it, reading quickly.

He pales, “Danzo, what did you _do_?” He mutters under his breath. Sarutobi passes the folder to Minato, but it is Kushina who grabs it first, and Minato settles for reading over her shoulder.

 _“What?!”_ They hiss at the same time. Kushina goes into a _rage_ , but the Hokage is already on it, writing on a scroll that he rolls up tightly, only pausing to yell at the chuunin outside to get him Danzo right. Now.

“Land of Wind, Rouran.” The Hokage says. He gives the mission scroll to Kushina. Minato is pale and his breaths are too shallow. “Not the time to panic.” The old man snaps, brows furrowed. “Go. Find him!”

Minato grabs Kushina and runs. They barley give the scroll to the chuunin at the Gate in their hurry. Kakashi has been gone for two weeks and it will take them at least three days to get to Rouran, except…

Minato has been there before. Did he… yes. He did. He grabs Kushina’s hand without warning and with a draining wave of chakra, they’re in a street, mostly hidden from view.

Minato pauses, instinct making him bend at the waist and grab his knees to get his breath back. He fights against it, throwing back his head to get air back into his lungs. He can feel his body working overtime to produce more chakra before it can go into a full state of panic. Kushina waits for all of five seconds before she puts her hand on the small of his back and pushes him to a more public street.

“Kushina, let’s just… let’s spread out.” Minato feels weak in the knees, there’s too much distance between here and Konoha to keep using that technique. He sighs. “We need a meeting place, though, so,” He looks around, trying to remember and pinpoint a spot that—

“There!” Kushina exclaims, looking but not pointing, to the giant clock tower. He nods his agreement. “Find some new clothes, Minato. You’re…” She motions for his torso. His flak jacket feels heavy on his shoulders. He can hardly waltz around in a Konoha uniform without catching too much attention.

“Yeah.” He agrees weakly. He would use an illusion technique, but he’s a little scared that he might pass out of he holds it too long.

When Kushina takes the east, Minato heads west. Rouran is beautiful, but the confusion of high towers makes Minato’s head spin, and the locals tend to be a little too private about their businesses, so it’s hard to look for someone. Minato steals a coat that he can wear over his uniform, effectively hiding himself in plain sight.

It is nighttime by the time Minato, his breath hitching from the effort of keeping himself up after a long mission and the Hiraishin, finds the brothel. Or _a_ brothel, at least, but it’s the only one he’s seen so far. The place is old, but it is much better than what the blond had pictured when he thought of Kakashi being sent on this mission.

A woman grabs at his arm and pulls him towards it, purring in his ear. He manages to dislodge himself from her without looking too rude, he thinks, and he memorizes the name of the place and its location before heading for the clock tower.

Kushina is already there, and has apparently been for a while. She stares at him without amusement in her eyes.

“I found the place.”

The find their way back to the brothel again and this time Minato cringes at the name glowing in green. _Flaming Spring Blossoms_ reminds him very unexpectedly of the boy who called Kakashi his rival. He feels even more uncomfortable going in, now.

Everything inside is timeworn, but at least it looks clean. There’s jazz music coming from somewhere, and after a quick sweep of his eyes, they notice the piano in a small, secluded room to their left. Kushina clings to his arm, but confidently leads him to the woman that looks like she’s in charge. She smiles with too many teeth when she sees them.

“Hello, are you interested in renting anyone for the night?” She’s looking at Minato, and her smile doesn’t make him relax any less. _Rent someone_. The thought of someone _renting Kakashi_ is disturbing and wrong. And he can only hope he’s still _here_ and not—

“We’re looking for someone in particular,” Kushina tells her almost conspiratorially. She’s leaning forward, like she’s trying to talk into the woman’s ear. Minato forces himself to relax and smile as sweetly as he can.

“Oh!” The owner laughs, “But of course, who did you have in mind?”

“I don’t know his name,” She looks to Minato, completely in-character, as if to ask if he had any idea. He shakes his head helplessly. “It’s a boy,” she says. “I heard about him. White hair? Too pretty for a boy?”

The owner looks a little disappointed, and hides a grimace “There’s been some people asking for him, but children don’t last long here, I’m afraid. They already bought him.”

This time, it is Kushina who grabs his arm a little too tight, and he nudges her discreetly.

They must really look disappointed, because she looks at the rest of her employees, and sighs. “If you are interested in… buying him from them. There’s supposed to be an auction tomorrow.”

Minato doesn’t have to pretend to look interested, but he does have to hide the hostility from his face. “Where?”

She points them in the right direction, and they carefully turn down the offer of the rest of the men and women that sit around the piano.

“Let’s go look for a place to rest tonight.” Kushina says suddenly, taking her husband’s arm and curling it around her shoulders. She presses herself tighter to the blond, helping him with his own weight.

“I need to—”

“I need to find Kakashi just as much as you do, all right?” She’s focused, nothing like how she’s when they’re in Konoha. Her eyes are fierce when she looks up at him. “But you need rest, and we need a plan. Kashi’s tough. He _is_. Just a few more hours, baby.”

Minato is not sure if she’s talking to him or whispering a wishful order to Kakashi.

**{…}**

They have a whole plan ready by the time they reach the auction house. They stay together as they seek a way in from the outside, and Kushina outright cheers when they find one. They kneel in front of  the tiny, darkened window leading to the basement, and Minato forces it open hoping to make their way up from there and into the actual house. He lets Kushina crawl in first, and follows quickly.

The basement is made of dark stone that chills it even with the searing heat outside, but that does not make it comfortable in the least. There’s grime between the titles, and Minato can feel sweat building in his brow and at his armpits, humidity clouding the air. The place smells like foul smoke from a pyre of plastic and flesh and dirt, and he can hear Kushina gag next to him before she starts breathing through her mouth.

They have to be quiet, even if they can hear the music from upstairs. It’s coming from some sort of wooden radio, because it’s only those that make such cheery music sound so hollow and full of static. They need to be out there quick. The auction starts in twenty minutes, and they need to get Kakashi out first, need him to tell them what he knows.

Kushina adjusts to the darkness first. She starts moving, one of her sandals scraping when her foot lands in a pile of old dried mud. She takes Minato by his sleeve, guiding him over through the room. He hits his hip against something, but it’s solid enough that it makes no sound, and otherwise Kushina is making no mistakes, so he lets her do her thing until his eyes become of some use.

“Can you tell me what you’re seeing?” He asks her. He wants to be prepared to move quickly once he can move on his own. He could do it now, but he knows where he is, and he’d rather not risk it if Kushina is willing to keep guiding him.

Kushina doesn’t answer, but her breath hitches only slightly. She steers away from something, and quickly thrusts him in the opposite direction. He could smell something, but he wasn’t sure what it was.

“They’re all children under thirteen or so.” She says quietly. There’s a sudden clang of metal, and Minato squeezes Kushina’s hand, imagining the worst. Kushina doesn’t respond, and she stops tugging at his sleeve.

A few more seconds, and Minato can finally see. Not perfectly, but it will do. He takes his arm away from her grip, and nods at her. Minato looks around, and immediately wishes he hadn’t. There are children in cages. Dirty and ragged, their cheeks sunken. Others look much better, but even in the dark he can see the fear that shines in their eyes when they catch sight of him.

He wants to free them.

He can’t do that.

Slowly, he turns away from a red-head girl and takes a deep breath, because he’s used to seeing children becoming killers, but this is something entirely different.

“Let’s,” He has to work to keep the emotion away from his voice, and knows Kushina can tell. His shirt is clinging to him now, drenched in sweat from the chill humidity. “separate.”

Minato doesn’t say which direction each should take, but it isn’t needed. Kushina nods grimly, eyes tight around the edges, and turns her back to him, looking in each of the cages in search for their missing chuunin. Minato does the same, every ounce of strength in his body going to not sweep the children he sees out of their prisons and outside. Minato is fast, he could probably take all of them before they are noticed. That is, if the cages were open. They are obviously not open.

He repeats to himself that he cannot take the children. They need them here so the owners of the ring will have the auction tonight.

Minato’s breath hitches when he sees him. He is soundless as he rushes over, kneeling so he can see through the bars of the cage at ground level. Unlike the other children, Kakashi is alone. He is also naked, from what he can see, and Minato prays to every god he can remember that it is only because he hasn’t been here long. The other kids at least have sacks of potatoes to cover them. Maybe they just didn’t have one for Kakashi yet.

He repeats it to himself over and over, but he knows he should still have the hospital check him when they get him back to Konoha, just to be sure.

The boy has his knees drawn close to his chest, and his face is hidden in his arms, which are resting lazily around his legs. He notices with a grimace that one of Kakashi’s fingers looks like it’s broken, and his ankle is swollen to double its normal size. His skin is clammy, and the whole of his small frame is shivering. There’s a bruise on the shape of a hand at his hip that Minato pointedly ignores.

“Kakashi?” He whispers. It is as quiet as he can make it, but the sound of his voice carries over, now that he’s further in and there aren’t as many cages for it to bounce on. “Kakashi, buddy? Can you hear me?”

Slowly, Kakashi raises his head. Dark eyes find his, and the horror must have shown in his face, because the boy looks down and away, though he doesn’t bother to hide again.

Kakashi’s cheeks are cut open. On the left, it goes from the corner of his mouth and all the way to his ear, on the right, it stops at about halfway through. He can see the teeth on each side, the whole muscle cut through. The lower parts of his cheeks are sagging slightly at their own weight. The edges of the wounds are red and puffy with infection, and Minato can still see the shivers wracking Kakashi’s body.

Minato feels a surge of panic run through him like electricity and catch at his chest. He feels like he’s going to throw up. Then he sees red and he wants to dismember the person who did this to his student. To Kakashi, who is only barely ten.

“Kushina!” He hisses. Kakashi cringes at the roughness of his voice, and the man turns to him, softening his tone, “Kashi,” He tries.

Kakashi doesn’t look up, doesn’t give any indication he can still hear him.

“Minato, did you find him?” It’s Kushina as she comes to kneel next to him. She looks and Minato can see her face hardening, fists clenching and chest puffing up to keep herself from doing or saying something she shouldn’t.

"Have you found out who the leader of the ring is, Kashi-kun?" Minato whispers again, his voice so gentle he can’t even believe it’s his. He keeps focused on the mission, and attempts to pull Kakashi’s focus to it, too.

Kakashi still won't look at him, but he nods ever so slightly.

"Okay," Minato breathes "okay. If you tell us, we can take care of it, yeah? We’ll deal with it, kiddo. And we’ll get you and the other children out of here." They can’t pull him out before. Kakashi is new, has a cage for himself. The other children are starved, but none of them are physically harmed like Kakashi is. The leaders will remember him, and Minato doesn’t know what they’ll do if he’s gone when they check.

The boy is clearly doing his best to keep his teeth from chattering and disturbing his wounds further, and Minato wishes he could take the pain away. Neither he nor Kushina are medics, but he thinks they could do something, if Kakashi wasn’t sitting so far away. Kushina looks just as helpless as he feels, if not more.

Kakashi shakes his head, and Minato blinks in surprise.

“It’s okay, baby,” Kushina chokes out. “We’re here, just—just let us help, okay? We’ll bring this whole business down. Tell us the name, please?”

Kakashi flinches at the term of endearment. His hands twitch, and Minato looks closer and realizes with a pang that he was wrong. All of Kakashi’s fingers are broken, save the one Minato thought to have been. The boy could probably still force them to move, but he is shivering with fever, has definitely not been in this much pain in his entire life.

Minato grits his teeth and thinks about killing everyone upstairs. Kushina grabs his shoulder hard enough to bruise. These children aren’t the only ones. They need the leader alive, if not the others, to tell them where the rest of the kids are.

There’s a loud clang as the heavy door to the basement snaps open. Kakashi tenses, looks at them with wide eyes like he was shocked back to life. His left hand is extended over his right, and then sweeps his right hand toward them. _GO._

It’s the simplest one of gestures for the word, probably the only one he can do with his fingers the way they are. Minato cannot believe he’s telling them to leave. Kushina grabs his arm and hauls him behind a wall before the lights are turned on.

The lights are yellow and dull, bulbs stained with brown and buzzing loudly as electricity runs over exposed wiring. The darkness doesn’t recede much, but it’s enough for Kushina to start gagging again when they see the real state of the basement. There are dead bugs all over, a rat being eaten alive by another one in the corner. The floor is smeared with blood and pus. It’s no wonder Kakashi’s wounds got infected down here.

Heavy footsteps are almost soundless, drowned by the ridiculously loud buzz of the lights. The man is burly, taller than Minato. His hands match the bruise on Kakashi’s hip. Minato is glad Kushina is still holding his arm, or the hands and bruises would no longer match. He can feel kyuubi’s chakra surround Kushina, fueled by her own rage. Minato hooks his free arm around her waist to keep her from jumping out.

The man stops in front of the cage Kakashi is locked in, grabs the one of the bars, and shakes it so hard it moves violently. Kakashi doesn’t make a sound, but it’s clear he hits his skull on the walls of the cage. Minato bristles with anger and despair. If this man was fast enough to grab Kakashi, there would have been no way out. He was—is—too strong for Kakashi to fight back and win.

The mission statement said ninjustsu was forbidden.

Kushina’s hand tightens painfully on his wrist, and Minato draws it back to himself where he had been about to throw a kunai.

The man pulls Kakashi out by his hair. Kakashi’s knees buckle under his weight. The man drags him to his feet again, shaking him in a warning to stay up. He’s muttering under his breath, and Kakashi struggles to do as he’s told. With his face the way it is, Kushina and Minato can’t tell if the boy grimaces or not.

“I’ll give you some advice, since you’re such a good fuck,” The man says, smirk plastered on his face. Minato and Kushina both growl, but manage to stop each other from attacking. Minato is starting to change his mind. Perhaps he can kill this animal and still complete the mission. He wants that hand to stop gripping Kakashi’s hair. “You want to moan for the boss, _baby_.”

Kakashi’s hand twitches. The man grabs him by the back of his neck and forces the boy into a march up the stairs. They’re gone for half a minute before a whole army of people swarms inside. They are better dressed, and each stops every few cages to peer inside.

Kushina and Minato both cast a henge on themselves and try to merge into the crowd, tense and pale. They are dressed for the auction, now, do not call any attention to themselves as they walk up the stairs and try to find the way Kakashi went. Following a trace of chakra is impossible, the boy’s own was much too smudged and was near exhaustion, he’s lost in the sea of weak civilian signatures and controlled shinobi ones.

**{…}**

Kakashi is in too much pain to remember the Leader looks nothing like his imagination offered him when he read the mission folder. Really, the man is short, not much taller than the teen girls he has seen back in Konoha, not tall and fat like he’d thought.

The burly one shoves him into the room. Kakashi doesn’t have the strength to move, so he falls, crashing hard onto the stone. It’s sizzling hot, even inside, and the rock burns his skin. When he looks up, Leader is looking at him in disgust. He bends down and pinches the left side of his face. Kakashi recoils and reels back. The pain is even worse, and he heaves, tears pooling in his eyes as he tries to _not_ clutch at his cheek.

“You’re an ugly one, aren’t you?” The Leader sneers, then disappears from Kakashi’s line of sight.

The men are talking, but Kakashi needs to drown them out, to focus on the mission. Minato and Kushina are here, so if anything goes too wrong, they can fix his mistake and should be able to make it out of there without much trouble.

There is a mirror next to him. Kakashi looks at himself. He’s not just ugly, he looks downright terrifying.

The door is slammed closed, and Leader is aggressive when he drags him off the floor and throws him painfully on the bed. The man cleans his hands on his clothes. Kakashi’s covered in cold sweat. The Leader looks revolted, then furious as he pounces like a tiger on the mattress, pinning Kakashi down.

Kakashi doesn’t close his eyes, but struggles. The man holds him down even harder with one hand, the other grabbing roughly at Kakashi’s groin before spreading Kakashi’s legs to settle between them.  Kakashi is weak from blood loss, chakra exhaustion, and infection. His breath quickens with desperation. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees a letter opener.

Three things happen more or less simultaneously. Kakashi molds the last of his chakra to get free, there’s a scream outside the door and Kakashi stabs the Leader’s eye with a hiss of anger.

Kakashi struggles with all his might to get out from under the man, his hand is no longer clutching his weapon—it got stuck on the Leader’s eye, Kakashi remembers belatedly, as he uses his fingernails to claw at the man’s chest—all the better, this person needs to be alive.

Kakashi’s vision blurs, and then bile rises up his throat and he has no energy to stop the vomit from staining the floor at the same time the Leader grabs him by the neck with an enraged roar.

The door bursts open.

The weight on Kakashi’s neck stops, though his vision just cannot keep up any longer.

There are strong arms around him, and Kakashi fights them until he hears Minato’s voice in his ear, shushing him, muttering meaningless reassurances. He can’t rest his cheek on anything—there is no cheek to do so—so Kakashi lets his forehead lean against his teacher’s shoulder. He’s never felt safer in his life.

Kakashi feels his stomach clench, thinks _Flying Thunder God_ and then there’s a familiar hustle and Minato is running, ignoring yells and screams from several people. They arrive at the hospital in a frenzy; there’s several nurses around them, but Minato brushes them off when they try to take his cargo away.

“Tsunade! _I need Tsunade_!” Minato looks, and sounds, desperate enough that a frightened nurse steps out of his way as he races to the break room he know the woman always hides in.

Kakashi’s eyes are closing as he starts to feel safe in his teacher’s arms, and Minato shakes him awake, soothing ‘not yet, Kashi, not yet’, rubbing Kakashi’s nape with caring fingers. He barrels through the door of the break room.

“Oi, brat, what—!” Tsunade’s voice is cut suddenly and Kakashi’s lying on the table as Tsunade works and mutters curses under her breath. “Namikaze, I need you to lend me your chakra.” There’s urgency in her voice, but no panic, and Kakashi feels slightly better.

“Kakashi?” Kakashi almost laughs because the word sounds so foreign. Princess Tsunade never calls him Kakashi. He’s Hatake or Brat. Sometimes he’s Puppy, but only when Tsunade’s cheeks are rosy and she’s slurring her words. Kakashi finds the sound of his name hysterical. “Kid? Shit. Namikaze, out of the way, find me an assistant that looks like they know what they’re doing.”

The flash of yellow is gone, and Kakashi thinks everything blurs a little more, like the man was the thing that kept the edges of his vision sharp. There’s a bolt of pain through his body, and Kakashi does giggle this time.

Tsunade looks really, _really_ disturbed, the way Kakashi sees it. He wonders if she’s in pain. She covers his eyes, pressing gently, and Kakashi’s head lolls back, unconscious.

**{…}**

Kakashi’s hospital room is guarded by an ANBU that slouches against the plaster wall like he doesn’t want to be there. Whenever Tsunade, Minato, or Kushina come by, he always straightens up, but relaxes the second they disappear through the door. He repeats that for hours, until the Hokage comes by, annoyed, and tells him to do his job properly. The ANBU does not slouch again.

Minato and Kushina stay inside the room until they are chastised and threatened by Tsunade. They hold Kakashi’s hands, and change the cool towel on his head in place of the nurse who walked in and then didn’t return. Minato has dark bruises under his eyes, and Kushina’s face looks impassive save for the dry tear tracks on her cheeks.

When Danzou comes by, there’s a screaming match between the three of them, plus Tsunade and the Hokage. Danzou eventually disappears from the room.

Nara Shikaku and Yamanaka Inoichi take turns coming by to pass them the new information they have obtained from the Leader of the child prostitution ring, who Kushina brought back to the village. Neither of them really wants to know, but they are apparently part of it now, all three of them. Minato reasons that maybe he _should_ want to know. Kakashi is in this situation because of the mission, so they should want to see it through.

Still, neither of them _does_.

One day, Shikaku brings a teddy bear Kakashi is sure to hate and sits it next to the boy’s pillow. He says the children at another facility had been freed. The ones where Kakashi was being held were liberated and returned to their families a week ago. Shikaku then turns a grim face towards Minato. He hands him an envelope and promises him those are all the pictures in existence, to do whatever he needs to do with them.

Kushina is out. She’s supposed to eat, but he has no doubt Rin and Obito are bombarding her with questions about their teammate.

The pictures in the envelope are the foulest thing Minato has ever laid eyes on. Lewd photographs of his student and the burly man. He shoves them back in the envelope and burns it before heading for the attached bathroom to wash his hands, then returns to his seat and presses his face to Kakashi’s chest, finding comfort in the steady rhythm of the boy’s heartbeat.

For three weeks, Tsunade denies any visitors other than Minato and Kushina, and obviously the Hokage himself. The exceptions are Shikaku and Inoichi, and Tsunade is not happy about it. Their visits are strictly two minutes long, if that.

Jiraiya returns to the village at the end of the third week, and Tsunade begrudgingly agrees to let him in.

On the fourth week, Kakashi opens his eyes. He is in pain (as Tsunade had expected), but still glares at the teddy bear (as Minato had expected).  He has just enough energy to babble with his hands. Kushina doesn’t know more than a few motions, and Minato can understand when he moves his hands normally, but not when the movements are that sluggish, so neither of them can follow.

Jiraiya is called over, and the man translates for them. Kakashi wants to know everything that happened. Jiraiya grabs Kakashi’s hands and lowers them to keep him from asking anything else. Tsunade puts him to sleep, but Kakashi is stubborn and doesn’t forget easily so Kushina relays the mission’s status—completed—and Minato parrots Shikaku and Inocichi’s words back at him. He tries to pat Kakashi’s hair; Kakashi recoils and Minato doesn’t try to do it again.

Finally, on the fifth week, Minato covers half of Kakashi’s face with the bedsheet and steps anxiously out of the room. He walks out of the hospital, running to the place where Jiraiya is waiting. Rin and Obito are with him, looking anxious but happy they’ll finally get to see Kakashi.

Minato wants to prepare them for the blow, though. He tells them Kakashi is probably going to be sleepy, if he’s even awake, and that he is going to be hooked to a lot of machines, but they are only helping Kakashi and they shouldn’t worry.

“You can’t stay long, though. Or Princess Tsunade will have our asses.” Jiraiya adds. Minato shoots him a disapproving glance.

“Can we at least give him this?” Obito asks, eyes wide in impossible innocence. He extends the package he had been holding closer to his teacher’s face, for inspection. “It’s eggplant with…uh… spices or something. Rin’s dad cooked it.”

Minato falters, sighing. “Sorry, Obito. Kakashi can’t eat any solid foods right now.” He says it like he regrets it deeply, because he does. “Rin, if your dad doesn’t mind, we can keep it in a fridge until Kakashi can eat it.”

“Yeah, that’s okay.” Rin’s smile is sad and confused.

The kids don't understand what all the fuss is about. They know Kakashi is in the hospital, that he’s really hurt, but he's been in the hospital before. Kushina mentioned an illegal brothel and prostitution when they asked, Minato is sure of that. She shouldn’t have said anything, but she had. The more time he spends with his students, the more he thinks the concepts are not downing on their minds yet.

“Help me here?” Minato asks, looking at his teacher for support. They’re on the main street now, but no one is really paying attention to them. The annual festival is tomorrow, and people don’t notice them among the bright tents being assembled.

Jiraiya tries to explain, but the children just stare some more. He starts using terms that are a bit more callous, but the reaction doesn’t change.

(“Your friend was in a whorehouse, kid.”)

(Stares. “Hey, Minato-sensei, what’s a whore house?”)

“They-they graduated when they were nine, sensei. I don’t think they—”

“Ah.”

Minato walks in silence for a few more moments, then turns towards his students. “Look, all you need to understand is that Kakashi went to a very dangerous mission, and that he helped a lot of children, all right?”

Befuddled, the chuunin just nod.

When they get there, Kakashi’s face has been covered by a soft cloth, and the bedsheet is pulled down to his waist, leaving his hands free for him to communicate. The boy’s eyes are open, droopy in their usual bored expression instead of in exhaustion. Kushina is asleep on her chair next to the bed.

The children actually communicate somewhat normally, Minato notes with a hopeful smile. Then Rin touches Kakashi’s arm and Minato slaps himself for forgetting to warn them about touching him. He expects a flinch and the whole situation to spiral out of their hands because Rin will surely cry and Obito will yell at the younger boy for making Rin cry in the first place. Kakashi tenses, looks directly at Rin, and slowly relaxes.

Minato lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. The touch is not without incident, however. Rin notices the way Kakashi tenses, and she retrieves her hand at the same time Kakashi looks away. Obito doesn’t notice, and his next words are followed by a slap to the chest Minato barely manages to intercept.

“He’s, ah, still hurt, Obito, please try not to touch him.” He can’t tell them the whole truth because Kakashi will never trust him again, and the other two won’t even understand anyway.

The children leave ten minutes later, followed by Jiraiya who says he’s going to go get dinner.

He doesn’t reappear until the next day, walking at Tsunade’s heels. He sits down while the medic uncovers Kakashi’s face. The scars are deep, product of the infection and the lack of care the wounds received. The scars are permanent, but Tsunade reassures Kakashi that he’ll still be handsome with them. Kakashi looks thoroughly unimpressed, but shrugs, using his right hand to cover his whole face, tapping his face with all his fingertips twice.

“That’s right,” Tsunade concedes with a sad smile. “You’d wear that mask anyway.”

When she leaves, Kushina looks at the boy steadily. She asks if she can touch his hair. Kakashi shakes his head, and that’s that.

When Kakashi is finally released from the hospital, the first thing he demands to do is train. Knowing Kakashi will go by himself even if he says no, Minato sighs, but agrees. Rin and Obito are on the training grounds when they get there, and Kakashi skirts around them in sad mimicry of their training sessions two years ago, when the team was newly formed.

After about an hour of evasion, Kakashi gingerly approaches Rin, piece of paper in his hand. Minato saw him write it, a thank-you note to the girl’s dad for the eggplant. He hands it to her and when she reads it, she throws her arms around his neck. Her hand smacks his cheek by accident.

Kakashi’s reaction is aggressive; he winces and pushes Rin away forcefully, backing up himself to put even more distance between him and the other two, who are looking at him with big eyes. Kakashi’s chest is heaving like he just ran around the village fifty times, and Minato drops to his knees next to him, hands hovering but not touching.

“Idiot, what if you had hurt her?! She didn’t do anything to you!” Obito screams in anger. Kakashi doesn’t flinch at that, but he’s looking at the grass at his feet. “Apologize! Sensei, tell him to apologize!”

Minato just looks at Kakashi. The boy raises his eyes, defiant and irked. And, with grief, the man sees Kakashi sign back _‘don’t touch me.’_


	27. Human After All

**Human After All** _  
_Nine years old (and on)_ _

When Kakashi comes home from a mission and is too tired to go to his own place, he goes to Gai’s. It’s closer to the gates, ridiculously so, and Gai never does expect Kakashi to follow his conversations. It’s incredibly, stupidly relaxing.

Frankly, Kakashi never thought Gai’s apartment would look quite like it does. The first time he sneaks in through the window, he is struck dumb by the dull, brown leather couches and the thrifty cream-colored cabinets in the kitchen. Had Gai not been napping on the floor in all of his green spandex-y glory, Kakashi would have turned back around and retired to his own home, believing Gai had somehow deceived him into breaking-and-entering his grandfather’s house.

As it is, what Kakashi does is to go and lie down next to the other couch.

He realizes, later, that Gai is only a boy—ten to his own nine—, and even he must get tired of missions and training and would want to have a peaceful place to call his own.

When Kakashi is ten, eleven, twelve, Gai grins and jokes and challenges him to absurd, nonsensical races and competitions. Gai doesn’t flinch or look remotely hurt when Kakashi leans away from his friendly pats on the back or when he refuses to eat anything in front of him. Instead, he packs up a bento with silly smiley faces of wasabi on the side and insists Kakashi take it home to eat.

Kakashi does, because Gai is a surprisingly good cook.

When ANBU missions become more frequent, Gai is one of the two people aside from the Hokage and his team to know he belongs in Black Ops.

Kakashi drags himself to Gai’s apartment often because he cannot get himself to his own house in the state he’s in. The hospital is out of the question, too. Rin works there and Obito practically lives there these days. He hates to see their faces when they see what he’s doing to himself, pushing to go on every mission he can get his hands on.

Gai is different. He always pretends to sleep while Kakashi stitches up his own wounds and hisses in pain because he’s a clumsy doctor at the best of times, and plain lousy when he’s suffering from blood loss.

When Gai thinks they’re past the Pretending-I-Don’t-Know-You-Know-I’m-Pretending-To-Sleep phase, he offers Kakashi painkillers and gauze and to hold the stitching thread while he talks non-stop about something or the other, always exuberant and lively.

Kakashi is sixteen when he allows Gai to actually hold the stitching thread, and eighteen when he sighs at Gai’s creepy puppy-eyes and lets him dress a nasty wound. At this point, Kakashi is going to Gai’s apartment after a mission simply because Obito refuses to be an adult and whines every time Kakashi comes home late from a mission and wakes him up.

(Even though Kakashi never did know why Obito was apparently living in his apartment, and how did that happen, again?)

Eventually, Kakashi realizes something of goliathan proportions—Kakashi feels relaxed, _safe_ , with Gai.

It strikes him like a lightning bolt, truly. Gai is walking next to him, screaming about the flower of youth and showing off his smile while trying to tell a magnificent tale of how one of his students had managed to beat the other two single handedly—

(“AND ONE HAND WAS TRULY TIED TO HIS BACK! THE YOUTHFULNESS WITHIN LEE IS ENOUGH TO MAKE ME SHED TEARS OF PRIDE, MY RIVAL!! PERHAPS YOU WILL ALLOW MY MOST PRECIOUS STUDENT TO TAKE THE LITTLE LOTUS FLOWER OF YOUR TEAM ON A DATE! HOW HE HAS BEGGED ME TO ASK! YOUNG LOVE IS ALWAYS—!”)

Kakashi halts mid-step, and Gai stops, too—Walking, that is, his mouth is still going off at the speed of light—and his volume only diminishes slowly when he comprehends that Kakashi is actually listening and hanging on to every word. He seems unsure of what to do now that he knows he actually is getting some attention and is not just there to fill up space.

“Are you okay?”

The lack of references to rivalry makes Kakashi blink and, after a second, he begins moving again. His hand somehow lands on Gai’s shoulder, and since he doesn’t actually know what to do now, he pats Gai’s head like he would a dog before moving on along the street.

His book is out, now, and he buries his face in it while he waits for Gai to recover from the shock. He’s not disappointed when the other man joins him again halfway down the street, confidently hooks an arm around his shoulders, and continues his story from where he had left off.

Kakashi resists a snort and lets Gai speak enough for the both of them.


	28. Revel in the Chaos

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys!
> 
> So, for starters, I wanted to say something to you. I think I will finish the requests you have sent me, or hey, any new requests between now and then, and then I will write this up as finished. If I write anything else for it after that, well, I'll put it up. But It has been nearly four years since I started this, and I did write it in one-shot format so I could stop whenever I felt I should stop or when I couldn't come up with anything else.
> 
> Of course, I do realize this story belongs to you now, not only to me, and as such, if you want to write something in response to this, or even send in the odd request for a chapter, or if you feel something is missing from this story that you want or need me to write for you, you are very welcome to write to me.
> 
> Writing this has given me the opportunity to understand the impact these sort of narratives have, and I am now aware of just how important it is for people to feel connected to a character that may not be the most typical, especially when that character is a protagonist. So thank you for this chance you have given me. And when it is finished, if you can and want to, share it, because although I know it is not the best thing ever written (and is in fact far from it), I'd like for someone to see themselves reflected in it.
> 
> Of course, it will still be some time. I know I have six more requests I have yet to write, one that is in progress, and two chapters I have started on my own. But I do feel like you deserve to know much in advance.
> 
> That said, is your opinion on the new generation of manga high enough that you would accept mentions of tiny!NewGen children?

**Revel in the Chaos**  
_Multiple ages_

Despite the selfish, uneducated perception of people, Sakumo was fiercely protective of Kakashi. It was not the standard sort of protection; Sakumo never, ever, thought of helping Kakashi get up when he fell down, or to tell him there were no monsters hiding under his bed. Sakumo was adamant that his son needed to learn to get back up without help and keep fighting. To shoulder the weight of the world and never look back, not even to gain momentum.

Sakumo would never forget the backslash he got when he taught Kakashi how to hold a kunai when he was only a year old. _He’s too young_ , they said. _He needs a childhood_ , they said. But Sakumo was giving his tiny, precious boy a childhood. He was giving him life. The civilians frowned and raised eyebrows when they saw two-year-old Kakashi seated on his shoulders silently and diligently counting the twenty shuriken Sakumo had just bought him.

Chakra manipulation was easy, natural, for Kakashi. He had stood up when he was six months old, strengthening his knees with chakra and bracing tightly to the coffee table for support. He had escaped his genin babysitters and climbed the tall tree in their backyard all the way to the top only two months later. Sakumo apologized to the genin for not alerting them of Kakashi’s newfound ability.

The genin grumbled and pouted.

Their jounin only smiled.

The academy instructors readily told Sakumo that they admired his job, that they would do anything to be like he was, and to thank him for giving it all for the village. Then they scowled and berated Kakashi for fighting dirty in sparring matches. _He keeps kicking boys in the groin and pulling the girls’ hair_ , they sneered. _He breaks knees and he’s brilliant but he keeps live kunai hidden in his clothes_ , they explained.

Sakumo never denied that Kakashi fought dirty, but he said nothing while his son, his little four-year-old baby wrote in big, messy characters that shinobi never fought fair. He kept quiet and encouraged Kakashi to defend himself and his ideas and to figure out when it wasn’t worth it to argue.

The world was an ugly place, he told Jiraiya. Especially the lives they led. And Kakashi, unable to speak out loud, needed something more. In the world of shinobi—in the world of tears and blood and death—Sakumo gave his son the greatest of weapons. He taught him to fight.

He taught him to fight, and he found him a teacher who would do the same when Sakumo could not go on. He gave his baby a kunai and hoped against all hope that he would get to grow old and become a man. That he would use those twenty shuriken to defend himself and his friends and his students and his children.

Sakumo eyed Kakashi, now, dread coiled like a wild beast in his chest, and had to resist grabbing him. Dressed all in black, standing in front of a new grave, Sakumo wished things were different. _Kakashi should be able to dress in yellow and orange and red, to hold a toy train or maybe a doll, and jump down in the river without molding chakra at the soles of his feet._

“Come on, Kakashi,” Sakumo gave one final look to the cold stone, and pushed his boy away from the black-garbed crowd. “Let’s get to work.”


	29. War of Old

**War of Old**  
_14 and 26 years old_

 

Kakashi collapses.

**\------------------------------------------------------**

**{R e w i n d}**

**\------------------------------------------------------**

Minato curses. The man rushes forward, too fast to see, and crouches over his student, shielding him from view. Kakashi hates cages. He detests hearing and reading about them, feels sick whenever he is forced to see one.

“Kakashi?” Rin is there suddenly, eyes big and lip worked between her teeth. Minato knows she doesn’t understand, not really, but she is the team’s medic, and she’s reaching, hand hovering over Kakashi’s, which is latched on his hair and pulling.

The boy’s breathing is too harsh, and Minato doesn’t know what to do. What _do_ you do, when your too-tiny fourteen-year-old student is faced with his most painful memory?

“Sensei, what’s wrong with him?”

That’s Obito, and Minato doesn’t know how, cannot explain it to someone so positive, so ridiculously innocent as the smiling Uchiha boy.

**\------------------------------------------------------**

**{F a s t f o r w a r d}**

**\------------------------------------------------------**

Obito reacts in time to catch him before he hits the floor and holds him close, though Kakashi is struggling to break free from his grasp. His breathing is coming in too quick, and Obito curses their rotten luck.

Sakura—Sakura who reminds him too much of Rin—kneels next to them. Her hand is close, trying to touch her teacher’s shoulder to try and do something.

“Kakashi-nii?” Naruto’s voice is too small for him, a far cry from the loud, exuberant boy he usually is. His hand flies out, though his knees seem locked-in, and he catches the sleeve of Sasuke’s shirt.

“Obito. Is he okay?” Sasuke looks every bit as scared as his teammates, and he cannot blame him. But at least he’s maintaining some composure.

“I—I can’t…” _I can’t tell you. It’s a secret. And you’re too young. Too young to know, too young to understand, even if it wasn’t._ His hand clenches, putting pressure on the back of Kakashi’s neck.

**\------------------------------------------------------**

**{R e w i n d}**

**\------------------------------------------------------**

Kakashi’s sob has to be one of the worst, most heart-wrenching sounds Obito has ever heard. He drops his kunai with a _clink_ , and he’s moving even before he knows what’s going on. He doesn’t know what happened, but he knows he never wants it to happen again.

He reaches out, but Sensei is quick to stop him as Kakashi’s breathing hitches even further. He’s on the floor, hands covering his eyes, hands covering his ears, hands pulling at his hair. Rin is crying. Her tears are silent, starting to fall only when Kakashi starts to rock.

Kakashi looks so desperate Rin can’t handle it anymore, and she fights against Minato’s hold until she has Kakashi in a tight embrace. Kakashi fights. He huffs and struggles.

“Kakashi, please stop!” Rin begs, but her voice is quiet, a whisper. Obito turns around, again aware of the danger of being heard while they are in this dungeon. He wants Kakashi to snap out of it, but he’s too scared. He disobeys his teacher and tries to muffle Kakashi’s huffs with his hand.

Kakashi snaps.

**\------------------------------------------------------**

**{F a s t f o r w a r d}**

**\------------------------------------------------------**

When Kakashi sobs, Obito flinches and his eyes fill with tears. It has been twelve years, and that sound is still among the worst he has ever heard. It’s not the worst, that one is reserved for the roar of the beast that claimed the lives of his teacher and his teacher’s wife. Of half his academy classmates.

The three genin all flinch and shudder, and gone is the mask of composure they need to maintain. Sakura clenches Kakashi’s shirt with her fist, her other hand shooting up to touch his face (his hair, _something_ ). Obito stops her, and scoots back before Naruto can drape himself over Kakashi’s back.

Sasuke remains where he is, because he is the one the auctioneer can see, but he’s facing his team, teeth bared in absolute helplessness.

**\------------------------------------------------------**

**{R e w i** **n d}**

**\------------------------------------------------------**

Kakashi whirls. His eyes are bloodshot, there’s tears in them, and they are wide and frightened. Like a wild animal’s.

He looks around, almost rabid. Obito approaches again, and this time he’s received with a punch.

“Kaka—!”

Rin stops when she sees the way Kakashi is looking at Minato. Kakashi is shivering. Kakashi never shivers, and there’s something wrong with him. But he’s reaching towards his teacher like he would a glass of water in the desert.

Minato also looks like he’s about to cry. His face is twisted into a grimace of regret and panic, and before he even looks around to make sure they still haven’t been discovered, he is grabbing his crying student and pressing him against his chest, whispering reassurances in his ear.

The second Minato’s hands touch him, Kakashi breaks. He goes limp, breathing hard into Minato’s shoulder, pale hands clutching at his shirt.

Minato, agitated, looks up into his students’ eyes. “No one’s coming.” He says it like he can’t believe it himself, but he uses one of his hands to caress Kakashi’s hair, even though it doesn’t seem to be helping. “Obito, Rin, I need to take Kakashi out of here. Can you continue the mission?”

“Yeah, sure, but—”

“Sensei, is he okay?”

Minato doesn’t answer, he just motions for them to keep going. Rin and Obito hesitate. They look at their teammate, then around the room, and a feeling of dread drops to the bottom of their stomachs. Minato sees the understanding bloom in Rin’s eyes as her face grows pale.

_“Go”_ Minato urges.

Rin steels herself, grabbing Obito by the hand, and pulls him upstairs.

_Where did the mission description go wrong?_

**\------------------------------------------------------**

**{F a s t f o r w a r d}**

**\------------------------------------------------------**

“It’s okay, Kashi, it’s okay.” Obito has no idea what to do, he just knows that he can’t let the children touch him or something bad is going to happen. He doesn’t move Kakashi away from his shoulder because he can’t bear to look at any tears his friend has to shed, and he can feel them wetting his skin through his shirt.

_Cages by themselves are bad. Cages with people…_

But the children look _so_ frightened. Kakashi is their teacher. He is the person who is supposed to lend them a shoulder when they need to cry, who must teach them to become adults. Kakashi has to be the strongest person around them.

And he has been, until now.

It’s no wonder they look like the world just broke in two.

Sakura is already crying, but she’s brave, she covers her mouth, is as silent as she can so nobody is disturbed. Disruption would complicate things. Naruto is hugging himself as if a coldness had washed over him, and Sasuke has to grab his jacket before his knees buckle and he stares at his teacher, wrapped in Obito’s arms, like God just died.

“Kashi, Kashi, you’re safe. We’ve got you, man.” Obito whispers in his ear. Kakashi relaxes marginally.

It really is no problem if the children do break down. With this unexpected twist, no one would hold it against a kid who ended up scared or in tears, as long as they kept it silent. An adult, though, was expected to blink and raise the paddle for a higher bid.

_“Let’s go.”_ Obito hisses. This mission is not like the last one. They have time, the child is not their objective. There’s three more auction days. His nephew and the other two are only genin. Only twelve. Even if Kakashi wasn’t like this, they would still need to leave.

The kids bounce up, more instinct to the order than because they are thinking of what they are doing. Obito hooks an arm around Kakashi’s back and the other under his knees, and struggles. Kakashi is heavy, taller than him now, even if he’s not as muscular. Kakashi’s hand is grabbing at his shirt like he did Minato’s almost a lifetime ago.

“You’re out of there, Kakashi. You’re fine.” Obito whispers into Kakashi’s ear.

**\------------------------------------------------------**

**{R e w i n d}**

**\------------------------------------------------------**

Minato feeds Kakashi a light sedative.

“It’s okay, big man. I’ve got you now, it’s okay.” He whispers it over and over while he picks the boy back up and holds him close.

The medicine is enough to make Kakashi sleepy, to quiet him down and force him to relax, at least until his teammates return.

Or until they don’t return, and Minato drags himself back there to help.

He wouldn’t be able to bring Kakashi if that were the case, and that makes him feel a little less guilty for drugging his student. He hates it, but there’s no other option. Trees have ears and eyes in that forest, and the mission is too delicate.

It’s only when they are back at the hotel that Minato realizes the description of the mission was never wrong, they just never expected this to be the magnitude of it all. The mission had been labeled a C-rank, so they were expecting some weak ruffian trying to hold the little girl for ransom, not… not _that_.

Minato settles against a wall, and when he tries to put Kakashi down on a futon, the boy’s breath hitches until Minato takes the hint and holds him tight.

That’s how Rin and Obito find them, two hours later. Their clothes are rumpled, but while Rin only seems relieved that they could accomplish what they set out to do, Obito is pale and withdrawn, his eyes scared as he looks at Kakashi, curled up on Minato’s lap, completely asleep.

They both change their clothes, not even bothering to cover up. It’s too late for any of that; too many years have passed in the battlefield, and need overshadows convenience during the war.

Instead of blushing like the teenagers they are, they remain quiet, shooting Kakashi glances until they are done and can sit in front of their teammates.

“Sensei—”

“It’s not fair!” Obito cries. “This wasn’t supposed to happen! It was just a dumb mission! Just something to do together before you…”

“It already happened, Obito. A while ago.” Those are not the words his students are expecting to hear. But they are both jounin now. They need to understand that misrankings occur, at the very least.

Rin lets out a high-pitched whine before the tears start freefalling. She wipes her cheeks with her hands, and rubs her palms against her eyes to try and stop them, though it only seems to having the opposite effect. Obito, too, looks close to tears, but he seems more horrified than sad.

Minato lets them work through it until they are ready to continue, his hand drawing comforting circles on Kakashi’s back, his lips and nose buried in the mess of gray hair on Kakashi’s head.

“When—?”

“It’s… is that how he got the…” Rin trails off, but she motions with her hands, from the corners of her lips, dragging her fingers toward her ears.

Minato frowns “Did… did you forget?” He sighs because he realizes they must have. “You were too young to understand, so I get why you would. Jiraiya-sensei tried to help me explain, remember?”

“But… but I was twelve, so Kakashi was—!” Obito can’t bring himself to finish.

Rin stretches her arm then, her hand coming to rest on Kakashi’s chest. She breathes in, like she’s reassuring herself Kakashi’s heart is really beating.

Minato sighs, because what Rin is doing reminds him that he needs to make sure his students are as ready to be adults now as they thought they were when they first became genin.

“Listen, you two.” Minato says, licking his lips and eyeing the teens in front of him. “As soon as we return, I will be tied to the village, so you have to promise me you’ll take care of each other. Work together as a team. Know as much as you can about each other so situations like this can be avoided. Can you do that for me?”

Rin and Obito still seem too horror struck to speak, but they nod slowly. A tug on his shirt has Minato looking down, and he stares right into Kakashi’s open eyes.

The boy smiles under his facemask, the index finger of his right hand on his lips. He opens it and brings his left hand up, resting his flat palm on top of the thumb-side of his left.

**\------------------------------------------------------**

**{F a s t f o r w a r d}**

**\------------------------------------------------------**

Obito doesn’t drug Kakashi. He can afford not to.

They are mostly safe in this village, even if they do catch some odd looks from the locals. All the bidders are getting strange looks, so a few more make no difference, everything is fine.

By the time they go back to their inn, Kakashi is still shivering and refusing to let go of Obito, but he’s no longer crying or wheezing. It’s not ideal, but Obito will take what he can get.

Obito collapses against the wall, much like he assumes his own teacher did twelve years ago. And this time, the children are innocent enough they have no reservations on getting close. Naruto settles between Obito’s legs, where he can bury his face in Kakashi’s stomach. Sakura kneels by Kakashi’s head, her fingers gently running through her teacher’s hair. Sasuke is a bit more distant, and Obito can’t blame him. When it comes to affection, Kakashi and Sasuke are very similar, so the boy knows not to touch the man until he has given explicit permission.

It’s been long since Obito’s reassurances lost their words and became merely soothing sounds, but it seems to be taking effect. It calms Kakashi, but it also lulls the children into a light sleep. Naruto and Sakura forming a protective cage around their teacher, Sasuke sprawled against Obito’s side.

A tug in his shirt makes Obito look down. Kakashi has his mask down, his right hand moving so his fingers are near his lips, then he moves his flat hand forward and a bit down in Obito’s direction, clearly showing him a smile.

“There’s nothing to thank me for, Kakashi. Just rest for now.”


	30. Roof of Mysteries

**Roof of Mysteries**  
_Thirty years old_

 _Ninja hounds have to be trained to talk_ , Yamato realizes after ten minutes of listening to Pakkun report his findings to a distracted Kakashi.

Sitting on the top of the tree, he can only stare, because he has known this man for years—almost his entire life—and his brain is only just catching up to this… _this_.

“Yo, _dude_.” Yamato startles imperceptibly, looking over toward the voice. The owner, he finds, is Obito, who is looking at him with a mix of amusement and suspicion. “You done gawking at Kashi?”

In his surprise, Yamato almost fails to see the smug smirk Sasuke is very obviously not trying to hide, but Naruto’s loud cackle and Sakura’s startled blush would be obvious even to a civilian, particularly as Sakura seems to suddenly become alarmingly aware that she’s standing close to her teacher—who apparently can be perceived in a sexual manner by other people—and pretty much ricochets away from him.

She frowns and pins Yamato with an indignant glare that, if Yamato knows as much as he thinks he does about kunoichi, is warning him to watch his back if he ever dares to hurt Kakashi in any way, shape, or form.

Yamato tenses and wonders just how Kakashi manages to lure in so many overprotective people to watch out for him. Then he remembers that he was _not_ , in fact, looking at Kakashi that way.

“It’s—it’s not _like that_!” He hisses.

But Obito is looking at him in the grown-up version of Sakura’s glower, and he points two fingers at his own eyes, then points them at Yamato.

“No! Really, I don’t—”

“What’s the ruckus over there? Can’t you keep quiet for ten minutes?” Yamato startles and looks over to find that Pakkun is looking right at him, unamused, from the relative safety of Kakashi’s arms. The pug also glares at Naruto, but apparently he is on Obito’s side on this particular issue, and his glare quickly returns to Yamato.

“Well, he should quit staring at Kakashi’s ass for the mission!”

Yamato is only somewhat relieved when Kakashi rolls his eye and shushes Obito with a simple hand gesture.

“Everyone stop ogling at each other,” Pakkun says gruffly, patting Kakashi’s wrist with his paw so the man hands him a briefing scroll. Pakkun takes it, pressing it between his fangs. He looks at them before he mutters under his breath, words smothered by the scroll, “It’s not like he’s interested in any of that.”

“I was just wondering how he taught you to speak!” Yamato finally admits. Trying to keep his voice down, his words come out as a shouting whisper.

Pakkun huffs and disappears in a cloud of smoke to deliver Kakashi’s message to the Hokage. Sasuke looks like he’s just barely managing to hold back a mocking grin.

Kakashi is unamused when he points toward the village they’re staking out, jumping down from the branch he had been sitting on. The rest of the team moves to follow, and then Yamato stops again. Because.

_What?_

“What did Pakkun mean, ‘he’s not interested in any of that’?” Obito stares back at him as they walk behind the rest of the group. Out of the corner of his eye, Yamato sees the three teenagers look back, curiously waiting.

Obito only snorts. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

Yamato, understandably, comes to the conclusion that he just shouldn’t question anything Kakashi does. Ever.


	31. Nice Job

**Nice Job**  
_Twenty-three years old_

Iruka doesn’t really know how he ended up in a room full of angry jounin that liked to pretend they could be civil with each other. He is, after all, only a chuunin; only an academy teacher. He sits next to the Hokage, shoulders squared to try and make himself look important enough to be there, even though absolutely no one is looking at him. He watches as a man with Inuzuka markings yells at Nara Shikaku, only to be interrupted by rude scoffs and growls before someone else speaks up and takes control of the room.

Though everybody is sitting in their own chair, not even threatening to get up, the discussion seems almost violent in nature.

And of course it is. Everything is, when it regards Uzumaki Naruto.

He studies the faces of each of the jounin until his eyes settle on Hatake Kakashi, who doesn’t look nearly as lost as Iruka feels, though it is clear he doesn’t want to be there: one of his arms is crossed over his chest, the other propped up on the armrest of his chair as he touches his face, thumb playing with the corner of his mask.

Iruka hasn’t exactly talked to Hatake before, though he has seen him quite constantly in the past years, always picking up Naruto, only sometimes walking together with one of the last Uchiha. The village talks, and Iruka always listens, so he knows just enough **about** the other man to wince in sympathy. He imagines it must be hard to sit in that very chair once every month and endure all the yelling.

Suddenly, Hatake stiffens, visible eye narrowing. He leans forward, grabs the glass that sits in front of him on the table, and _slams_ it hard on the wood. As one, the jounin around him all shut their mouths and pause to look at him; most are visibly annoyed, but Nara Shikaku is grinning and even Lord Hokage has raised his hand to hide his smile.

Hatake moves his hands with such absolute precision that Iruka never wants to make hand seals in front of him. Still, Iruka is startlingly aware that he doesn’t know what Hatake is saying. It makes him feel bad, because he has never seen such raw emotion on Hatake’s face: he always looks aloof, his smiles artificial, so it’s obvious he cares about this. The other jounin watch until he’s done, then slowly look away, turning to each other in a silent, collective countdown so they can start talking again and pretend Hatake hadn’t interrupted.

Hatake sees this, Iruka notices, and reaches for his hip. He sees him pull out a pencil, then the man hesitates and slides his pencil and notepad back into his weapons’ pouch before he slouches back into his chair, looking utterly weary.

Iruka can’t blame him. Hatake has lived in this village for over twenty years and his comrades still treat him like an outsider unless he saves their asses.

“Kakashi-kun is right,” Lord Hokage says. The words are like a slap to the jounin. Not, Iruka thinks, because of the acceptance of something they were about to dismiss, but because of the name the Hokage uses.

‘Kakashi’, not ‘Hatake’, and Iruka cannot be the only one who notices the fondness in his voice when he says it. It’s a remainder of just who Kakashi is. Student of the Yellow Flash, son of the White Fang, Protégé of the Sannin Jiraiya; chuunin at six, jounin at thirteen. Hatake wasn’t one of the Hokage’s favorites for no reason.

“The boy is dangerous!” Iruka only realizes he has missed the translation of Hatake’s words when a skinny woman speaks up. She isn’t looking at the jounin, but at the Hokage, and Iruka glances at the Hatake. “He shouldn’t be trained as a shinobi, it was a bad decision to—”

Hatake clicks his tongue and moves in his chair. Lord Hokage sighs like a man who has seen this particular war many times. He raises an arm in a simple motion to stop Hatake.

“It was a necessary decision. It was Naruto’s wish to be a student at the academy, and he’s not a thing that we can keep locked up. Besides, he has not been doing too bad, has he, Umino-kun?”

Iruka startles when he feels the heavy burden of all the eyes on him. Hatake is watching, carefully assessing him.

“He—He’s definitely a prankster, Lord Hokage, but—”

“You see! He’s not fit to keep training!”

“He never said that, Ai,” Sarutobi Asuma placates. He doesn’t have a cigarette in his mouth, and Iruka can see the perspiration in his brow, a clear sign that he needs to smoke and he’s holding back. “Iruka, as his teacher, do you think Naruto-chan should continue studying at the academy?”

“I—yes, of course!” Iruka catches a couple of smiles around the room. Hatake doesn’t seem to be smiling, but he’s paying attention. “Like I said, he’s a prankster, but a lot of the children are, and his acts cause no more than a few eye rolls. He and Uchiha Sasuke-kun are inseparable, and the healthy competition seems to be helping them both.”

He doesn’t know if he has overstepped his boundaries with his comments, but Nara Shikaku shrugs at the people that have been screaming at him for the past hour.

“It sounds like it’s settled, then.”

Iruka blinks when everyone does settle down and the topic changes to something of a more political nature.

**{…}**

After the meeting, Iruka goes almost straight to the Uchiha District. For a second, he hesitates, looking at all the dilapidated homes, with the barren flowerbeds and dusty windows, and then keeps walking until he finds the one house that looks cared for.

He knocks on the door and a second later, the door opens, and Sasuke and Naruto, covered in paint, are looking up at him.

“Iruka-sensei?” Sasuke asks, and Iruka tries not to feel guilty when Naruto grasps Sasuke’s shirt and the Uchiha boy smoothly moves to stand in front of his friend. “Is Naruto…?”

“No!” Iruka has no idea what Sasuke was going to say, but he knows he’s been hard on the small blond for the past three years. After witnessing what he did just this morning, Iruka knows he won’t be able to yell at Naruto anymore. At least not with the intention to hurt. “I was just wondering if I could talk to your uncle, Sasuke-kun.”

“Oh.” Both boys blink, and then they run away, toward the back of the house, without closing the door behind them.

Iruka is too polite to leave or pretend the open door was an invitation, so he just stands there until he hears the heavy footsteps of an adult.

Uchiha Obito has bags under his eyes, his hair is standing up on matted tufts, and his clothes are rumpled. He still has pillow creases on his cheek. Iruka flinches internally because of course there was a reason he wasn’t in that meeting with the rest of the jounin.

“Yo, sensei.” The man says anyway, “Do you… is Sasuke having any more trouble?” He’s trying for a light tone, but there’s concern on those words.

“No, I just… Lord Hokage invited me to the jounin meeting this morning, and—”

“Shit, that was today?” Obito massages his eyes with the heels of his hands. “Man, Kashi hates going to those by himself.”

“I was just thinking that the jounin don’t seem to understand Hatake-san.”

Obito snorts. “That’s an understatement.”

“I guess I was wondering if you could teach me sign language.” When he pauses, Obito stares, and Iruka hurries to elaborate “I could teach the children at the academy. Hatake isn’t… Everyone deserves to be understood, and I’m aware that he’s brilliant. If someone opposes we can claim tactical reasons...”

Iruka trails off when a large grin splits Obito’s face and sighs in relief when the older man offers him a trembling hand.

**{…}**

It has been all of five weeks since Iruka started his own lessons under the constant watch of Uchiha Obito, and everyday he’s more amazed with it all.

His own grasp of the language is still, admittedly, embarrassingly weak, but he’s surprisingly more conscious of the things that happen around his classroom because of it: he catches Sasuke and Naruto cheating on a test, for one, even though Iruka made sure to seat them as far away as possible from each other. He regrets calling them out, a little bit, when the girls in the classroom act outraged at his accusation and scream at Naruto to pull Sasuke of whatever genjutsu he’d got him on, because of course Sasuke could never be the mastermind of that operation.

Iruka notices other things, too: how Sasuke says bye to Hatake as discreetly as he can when Hatake picks Naruto up from the Academy, how his regular hand seals become faster and more precise, how Hatake and the Uchiha spent even more time together than what he originally thought—though that’s only because Uchiha Obito insists on scheduling his lessons around Hatake’s irregular timetable.

Naruto and Sasuke join the lessons sometimes, both together and separately, and, to Iruka’s surprise, they join as assistant teachers and not students.

“You can’t tell him!” He hears Sasuke hiss to Naruto one time, once Obito has left. “Obito-niichan says the class is a secret.”

“Aw, but _why_?” Naruto whines in return. Iruka wants to know, too, but Sasuke just shrugs and starts walking off.

Iruka frowns, because _why_ would Obito keep this from Hatake? Surely it would be good if Hatake knew somebody was showing interest in sign language.

He doesn’t have an answer, but Iruka stops himself from thinking about it too much. He just has to ask the older man tomorrow, there’s no use fretting about it now.

The next day, though, Sasuke walks home by himself, and Iruka has Mission Desk duty, so he can’t just walk off to the Uchiha District and demand answers. Instead, he sits next to another chuunin behind the desk that receives completed mission reports and pulls out his bento so he can eat and work at the same time.

It’s four boring hours later that Hatake himself strides in. He’s not wearing his flak jacket, or in fact anything over his torso except for a fishnet top that’s frying around the neck. Still wearing the mask, though. Iruka briefly wonders how he even manages that.

Hatake puts his mission report on the desk and just sort of stands there while Iruka reads it. It’s vague at best, and sloppy at worst, including several grammar mistakes and what he’s pretty sure is a bloodstain obscuring one of the words—then again, that one is very precise, so it might be on purpose.

“Hatake-san, is this a joke?” Iruka grits his teeth a bit. Hatake shrugs, extending his hand to receive his payment. “I can’t—You have to rewrite this. This isn’t up to standard.”

Hatake shrugs again, like the standard is not something he has to worry about. And what does Iruka know? Maybe he doesn’t. Maybe being a shinobi for seventeen years gives you special privileges. Anyhow, Iruka can take this up to the Hokage, if it’s fine, it’s fine; if it’s not, only the Hokage could make Hatake rework this.

Hatake starts to turn away. Iruka, apropos of nothing, flails his arms like a drowning man who doesn’t know how to swim. Hatake, obviously intrigued by this sudden lack motor skills, stops and looks at him, eyeing him up and down like he was in danger of Iruka instantaneously combusting so close to him.

Iruka moves his hands, and even his chuunin partner stares when his fingers form precise—he hopes—words. The one eye he can see of Hatake’s face widens in surprise. His arms fall, slack, to his sides, apparently too astonished by Iruka’s new skill to remain aloof.

And then Hatake starts coughing. A wheezing, abrupt sound that startles the ninja round them, except Iruka can see Hatake’s eye and he’s… laughing? He’s definitely laughing. Clutching his stomach like it hurts and everything.

Hatake signs something, Iruka can’t really make it out, and when he only looks confused, Hatake takes pity on him and pulls out his notepad, waving Iruka to sit back down. Iruka does, and his partner, Ichirou, motions to everyone else that everything is fine and to go right on.

 _‘Naruto peed on Sasuke?’_ He writes.

Iruka stares. The words on the page make sense, but the words ‘peed’ and his student’s names should never be put together in the same sentence Iruka doesn’t use that kind of language, and the less he things about the kids’ bodily functions, the better. He’s not even sure why they’re even having this conversation right now.

“Ch—no! No, Naruto and Sasuke cheated! I mean, on a test.” Iruka replies, and he guesses he sounds indignant enough that Hatake puts his hands up to placate him. He still looks tired as all hell, but Hatake’s shoulders are relaxed now, at least.

Iruka yelps when Hatake grabs his right hand, and he makes to pull it away before he realizes Hatake’s moving his index and middle finger to be in a ninety-degree angle from each other; the middle extended forward, the index straight up. Hatake shakes his hand, once, to make him pay attention to the symbol, but Iruka doesn’t get it; this is exactly what he did just now.

Hatake points a finger at Iruka, and then moves Iruka’s hand the way Iruka had moved it before; a swivel movement: up and down to the tip of Iruka’s nose where the tip of his middle fingers touches his nose. Iruka blinks, frowns, and nods. Hatake shakes his head, and Iruka swears he looks amused.

He bends down to write something else on his notepad and shows it to Iruka. A single word, _cheat._ Without letting go of Iruka’s hand, Hatake moves his fingers back in place and this time moves his hand in a similar, but definitely distinct motion: a pivot, forward and back to the side of his nose.

Hatake lets go if his hand and retrieves his notepad while Iruka is still sputtering like a fish. “Uchiha-san’s been teaching me! You’re saying he taught me wrong?”

Confidently, Hatake takes off his glove and shows him the palm of his hand: _NO_. But then he shrugs, opens his notepad, and writes something down before ripping the page up and handing it back to Iruka. He doesn’t wait this time, just disappears in a puff of smoke, and Iruka is left staring at the page Hatake left him.

 _But he did teach you the only sign for_ cheat _you could possibly confuse with_ pee _._


	32. Fighting Stance

**Fighting Stance  
** _ 26 years old _

Sakura’s understanding of her teachers comes to a screeching halt when she first sees it.

The shared Sharingan.

She’s never seen anything like it.

It’s _amazing_ , there’s no better word to describe it: amazing, striking, staggering.

Her teachers move in synchrony so flawless it takes her a moment to remember they are not the same person, that they’re not alike even in personality. She sees the effortless dance between them and the Mist shinobi, the fluidity of their movements; the way they easily cover each other’s weak points in a way they couldn’t have possibly practiced to achieve.

She tightens her stiff, unexperienced grip on her kunai.

She wants to move like _that_.

The Bell Test comes unbidden into her mind. Sakura sees the way her teachers move, and she remembers the way they smiled at each other during the test, when Naruto and Sasuke had, for some unexplainable reason, immediately come to the conclusion that they had to work together. She winces a bit when she recalls that she rejected the idea when it came from Naruto’s mouth, ignoring his hurt expression until Sasuke spoke up to say that he agreed.

Sakura should have failed.

She should have.

She knows that now.

It’s only a second. She gets distracted, kunai in front of her chest as she tries to side-glance at Naruto. She doesn’t know what she wants; to apologize or smile at him or outright tell him that she hopes the three of them can move like their teachers someday.

It’s a mistake.

There’s a blur. It’s in front of her. Everything moves slow. She sees the bone-white mask, the dark green robes, the flash of a senbon. Sakura can’t even move her arms.

And then, even faster, there’s her teacher.

Kakashi-sensei pushes the shinobi away. The shinobi shifts, twisting his hand so the senbon scratches Kakashi-sensei’s arm instead of Sakura’s face. In an instant, Obito-sensei is there, too, pushing Kakashi-sensei in their general direction and slamming the other shinobi to the ground.

The shinobi fights Obito-sensei, but now that they’re so close, Sakura notices: The shinobi’s small; maybe a little taller than Sasuke, and even the whole of his strength is nothing to Obito-sensei’s bulk.

“Momochi Zabuza’s out,” Obito-sensei says, and the shinobi fights harder against him. “So you can tell us what you need now.”

**{…}**

Sakura can’t sleep.

Every time she closes her eyes, he’s there. The boy with the pretty face and bloody neck.

Obito-sensei’s expression, and the way he had dragged the bodies back until Kakashi-sensei had fainted. The way he deliberated before giving the three of them the task to carry their teacher. His impassiveness as he made sure the Mist shinobi were properly dealt with before joining them for dinner, and his uncharacteristic strictness when he denied Naruto permission to look at the Mist shinobi.

 _It’s part of the job_ , she tells herself. _Ninja do this. They do it all the time._

But she can’t shake off the sickness that settles in her stomach.

She licks her lips, looks out the window. She tries to settle down.

She’s exaggerating. Sasuke didn’t look surprised or scared when Obito-sensei fought, and when they were treating Kakashi-sensei for poison, even Naruto remained collected and obedient of Obito-sensei’s orders, even if worry bled into his face.

But then, Sasuke must know his uncle, must know everything about being a shinobi. And Naruto… She has no idea.

Sakura sighs. She gets up, walks around her room for a bit. She’s not tired, just… mostly blank. Obito-sensei had said: this wasn’t a C-rank mission. There were powerful enemies, there was—there was blood. Blank eyes, lives snuffed out.

A chill runs down her back.

She gets up.

Kakashi-sensei had still been extremely weak when she had gone to bed; he had eaten in his and Obito-sensei’s room, hadn’t even been able to walk down the stairs to reassure them he was fine.

She needs to check.

It’s all her fault, for starters. If she had been focused, Kakashi-sensei wouldn’t have had to jump in front of her to save her. He wouldn’t have been poisoned. He would have taken care of Zabuza, and then he and Obito-sensei could have continued their seamless dance to take care of the boy with the pretty face.

She tiptoes out of her room, wincing a little when the door creaks. It’s the dead of night, and she has to tell herself this isn’t weird, despite what her parents told her when she announced she’d be leaving on a mission with a total of two teammates and two teachers, all of them boys.

Naruto is snoring, she can hear him all the way out here.

Except…

She risks peeking in the boy’s room, heart already racing and face flushed over nothing, and finds it empty. Just like she thought. She clenches her fists, and takes a few more silent steps toward the room across from hers. The door is already not closed properly, leaving a trail of light from a lamp to wash over the hallway.

The first thing she sees are Kakashi-sensei and Obito-sensei.

She hasn’t known them for very long, but she can already tell: Kakashi-sensei is about as relaxed now as he could possibly get. He’s leaning heavily against the wall, his shoulder pressed against Obito-sensei’s for extra support, and his hands are moving lazily through a couple of hand signs, none of which Sakura recognizes.

Next to him, Obito-sensei is chuckling.

“I’m sure she’d agree,” Obito-sensei says, and the next second, his face falls into something Sakura can’t describe; the same expression her mom gets when she looks at old pictures of people long gone. “She could have helped you earlier, Kashi. I barely knew what I was doing.”

 _Kashi._ Because they’re _friends_.

Sakura lets her eyes trail over the rest of the room, and her eyes linger for a second on the mound of blankets that has to be her teammates in the corner of the room. Her eyes go back to her teachers, leaning on each other without looking like… well, without looking like they’re _together_.

“Yeah, maybe. But she wouldn’t have let you eat all that rice right after you woke up either,” Obito-sensei insists. He starts to shift, and Kakashi-sensei follows suit, letting Obito-sensei take most of his weight until he’s finally lying down. Obito-sensei stands back up, walks over to the boys before sitting back down between Kakashi-sensei and the mound of blankets. He sighs, “I miss her.”

Sakura startles.

She realizes, suddenly, painfully, that her teachers are only two. Teams are made of three. And the way Obito-sensei is talking; the way her teachers move together as if they can read each other’s minds, that is the point of teams.

Sakura can almost see her: she doesn’t know her name, but she can imagine a young girl bandaging Kakashi-sensei’s wounds and running her hand through Obito-sensei’s hair. She can imagine her laughing, blushing over one of the boys like she does over Sasuke.

She looks at them, two where there should have been three.

She remembers the way they moved together, and thinks she’d like to know how the dance looks like when the team is complete.

She has to be careful, she knows, or she could be killed. She has to be observant, or one of her teammates could be.

“Sakura,” Obito-sensei calls. “If you can’t sleep, why don’t you bring your futon over? It’s easier to relax in company,”

Sakura blinks.

“I’m, uhm. Sorry. I’ll get my things,”

And she goes.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know what the pairings can be for this, so... I'll just let you guys decide. They are different one-shots, after all. Though I won't accept all pairings, I'm willing to accept some, as long as I can find a way to accomodate them.
> 
> Oh! And I'm also accepting ideas of things that you want to see happen that I can develop =)


End file.
